The Thunder Rolls
by fersuremaybefersurenot98
Summary: The flight with Astrid never happened and Hiccup comes to a realization in the kill ring and in the aftermath. Fleeing, he finds paradise on a distant island, where he lives for four peaceful years. Then, before anyone can see it coming, Berk is under siege. Will Hiccup choose to help the people he once called his own? Or has all the rejection and all the years changed his heart?
1. Chapter 1

**AN:** So, here it is. If it seems short and a little weird, and a little OOC, that's because this is my first HTTYD fic, ever, so...yeah. Flames and suggestions are welcome. Just so you all know, I am a serious TuffCup shipper/Hictrid hater (sort of) but I don't think there's going to be much homo-ness in this story, rather none at all because I want to appeal to the general public. There might be a bit of ToothCup, but nothing serious.

Again, flames and criticism as well as suggestions are much appreciated.

Read on.

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\- with Hiccup -

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One thing you must know about dragons is that they aren't always the sharpest swords in the rack. In fact, most times, they're kind of dull, and need a little encouraging to see anything more than what's right in front of their eyes (and if he were being frank, it's much the same with Vikings). But that _doesn't_ mean they must be killed for it. In fact they're pretty peaceful creatures underneath all the claws and teeth and terrifying growls...it just takes a lot of patience, and a little understanding.

Take now, for example. I had just thrown down my dagger and shield and told the Nightmare that I wasn't "one of them"...and it was kinda true. I had never had the same killer instinct that the rest of the villagers seemed to summon without effort, and this was the first time. I wanted to admit it to myself...all I had wanted, all my life, was to be accepted into the tribe, and if that meant killing a few dragons and mounting their heads on spikes, I had always felt that that's just how it had to be...but not anymore.

The clattering of the weapons echoed faintly in my own ears and it seemed that everything had stopped for a moment, as if the entire world was holding it's breath. Besides the few confused and outraged whispers, the arena was in danger of becoming totally silent.

"What is he doing?" I heard my father ask rather quietly as I put up my hands, at the total mercy of the Nightmare.

"I need you all to see this." I said with conviction. "They're not who we think they are!" I held very very still as the dragon lowered it's head further and seemed to contemplate putting it's trust in me as well, leaning a bit towards my open palm. "We don't have to kill them."

I could see it. I could see the reason beginning to bloom in the great reptile's eyes as it began to lean towards my touch, and for an incredible moment, I felt as though I was actually going to do it! By the gods, I was going to accomplish something amazing! These moments here could be an incredible milestone for Vikings everywhere. The war could have a possibility of ending, if I could just get them to understand that all of this is pointless.

"Stop the fight!" My father muttered gruffly, and I could hear the anger churning just under his voice. Knowing my father, it was only going to build, but I had to at least try.

The Monstrous Nightmare's pupils had just begun to dilate with the thoughts that I had no intention to harm it, and I felt my heart leap in joy and victory, despite my dad's words. This was going to work!

"I said _STOP_!" Stoick the Vast's huge war hammer slammed against the chains webbing around the arena, a split moment before my hand would've met the scaly skin of the dragon's snout, and abruptly everything went to hell. The Nightmare's eyes went wide, it's body tense, and it's pupils narrowed into slits faster than you would believe. Quick as lightning, it lashed out and it's terrifying teeth chomped down just inches from where my hand had been a moment before.

"No!" I exclaimed, a fair bit of fear tugging at my insides now that the Nightmare was reared up on its flanks. " _No_!"

It was too late, and before I could even take another breath to calm the beast, there was fire everywhere. Screaming I ran for my life across the arena, barely escaping the great waves of fire scorching the air just behind me, making me wince as the heat met my skin. The dragon was everywhere, on the ground, up on the walls, scuttling like a gigantic lizard bent on having me for lunch. Vaguely, I heard people yelling in an odd mixture of rage, excitement and alarm, some screaming at me to pick up a sword and others calling for someone to help me. This vaguely surprised me-I would've thought they'd just let me get fried with no concern whatsoever. Death or glory, as my father always says, I thought bitterly.

Said father was now beckoning me towards the entrance he'd opened with frantic arms and, realizing that I had no other choice rather than to be burned to a crisp, I bolted for the gate. There the exit was, just past the weapons's rack. I ran as fast as my legs could carry me, but even before the stream of fire that blocked the way, I knew I wasn't going to make the door. My father stepped back and covered his head against the assault.

All at once, I was knocked back, down to the dirt and pinned down by two comically long, terrifying claws. The Nightmare was wild now, and after all the commotion, there was no reasoning with it. I was no longer a boy who had just been trying to communicate peacefully with it just a few moments ago-I was the enemy. They had ruined my chance! _Their_ chance! The Nightmare's chance, to prove it was an intelligent creature that felt pain and fear and-

This was how I was going to die...how we were _both_ going to die, me and the Nightmare. After this dragon finishes me off, the Vikings would surely retaliate for the taking of a life, in the most cruel of ways...oh gods, _Toothless_...

Please let him be okay. Please let him get off this island, somehow...let him go far away from here, where it's safe, I thought as I stared into the eyes of the beast that was about to finish me off. I couldn't blame the Nightmare...it was my father's fault, for spooking him, when I was just about to get through to him!

What kind of father would _do_ that? I was very clearly in no immediate danger until he interrupted me. He knew what would happen...knew _this_ would happen. I guess this was my fault too, for thinking that I could get through to him or anyone even a little bit- he never listened before, so why would he now? Did I actually think these people could _change_? I'm so stupid...but if my entire village, my _father_ would rather see me as...one of _them_ , so impulsive and unfeeling, un _thinking_ , rather than who I really am, then...maybe this is best for everyone.

Everyone but Toothless...I'm sorry, bud. I'm not going to be making it back.

"Death or glory." I whispered, closing my eyes for what I thought was the final time. I heard the familiar sound of gas building above me, and felt the heat before the fire had ignited. The fire that would end my life.

I heard my father scream.

And the most amazing thing happened, as every Viking looked towards the sky in confusion. Even the Monstrous Nightmare seemed confused, and halted it's attack, rearing up just a little bit and allowing for sweet air to rush into my lungs. That sound...that sound had only ever been heard at night, during the weekly dragon raids. A sonic sound that Hiccup knew came from only one dragon's sleek wings and the rapid building of lethal plasma before it was let loose.

"Night Fury!"

"Get down!"

The world exploded.

Or, that's what it seemed like, at least. All at once, every Viking cried out, a purple ball of energy from the skies streaked towards the arena at high velocity, and the Nightmare just had enough time to lift it's paw completely before the cage above them combusted.

The earth shook, smoke was everywhere, and even more disorienting than the smoke and my own lack of oxygen was the huge metal chains that rained down from the huge hole that had been blasted through the arena's protective caging. A few burning embers landed on me, one in particular searing through my tunic and burning my chest before I yelled and flung it off. But even that was the least of my worries. I wasn't afraid- I knew what was happening. He must've heard me scream.

"Toothless!" I cried in a mixture of relief, joy and horror, not knowing which emotion to favor most, especially as he landed dead in front of me and warned the Monstrous Nightmare to back off. I'd only ever heard that terrifying noise one time previously- when it had been _me_ he was ready to attack. Toothless slunk closer to the ground and that was when the Nightmare struck.

He was fast, but the attack in itself might've took Toothless by surprise...I don't think he was used to being challenged by, uh-hem... _lesser_ dragons. Then again, Nightmares were tough and full of tricks, and they didn't like to back down. Meanwhile, I heard the whole of the audience gasp and exclaim in amazement as they were met with a sight that had evaded them for years- a complete, unmarred view of the beast that had never before been seen by any Viking (as far as they knew).

"Night Fury!" I heard Gobber's awestruck voice in particular, coming from the stands just to the side of me. I winced as Toothless was pushed to his back, knowing that _he_ was okay, but his saddle-oh, the _saddle_!

"Toothless, you need to go!" I tried to tell the dragon as quietly as I could without appearing to be actually talking to him. But he didn't seem to hear me-he was rolling around with the Nightmare, as the red beast took swipes and bites for his head, although Toothless clearly had the upper hand. The Night Fury pushed his attacker to the ground with one mighty front paw, and sunk his teeth into the dragons shoulder. "Toothless!"

Vikings were starting to drop from the stands now, as Toothless released the dragon under him and the Monstrous Nightmare flew off, through the gaping hole in the cage with a roaring cry of defeat.

"Toothless!" I cried, as a couple Vikings, so much larger than myself, began to try and seize him. "No!"

He roared back at me, though with a different tone that he used for battle, and with one look at his strange, green eyes that weren't angry or fearful, but very worried, I knew that he was asking me what was going to happen now. He had saved me, but he had also exposed himself to all in and around the arena-something I knew would bother him for a long time...so, what now?

In the split second it took me to shake myself out of my stupor, Toothless had already thrown off all of his attackers, knocking more over with his tail. More were advancing, and the numbers were beginning to worry me. Thinking back to just the last few minutes, and the conversation I had with my dad the night before, I knew what I had to do.

As quick as I was able, I sprinted towards Toothless, just a few meters away, and got ready to climb on his back, immediately feeling the dragon's strong muscles tense. The Night Fury was the only dragon I knew of that was capable of taking a vertical jump and flying in the sky a moment later.

"Hiccup!" I heard, just before I would've mounted, and turned to see the angry face of my father a moment before I told Toothless to take flight without me.

Something strange happened, then, after Toothless took to the air and hovered above the arena, just out of reach of the crazed Vikings. Axes were thrown, but easily avoided, and any spears or swords thrown bounced off Toothless' sleek hide harmlessly, sliding along his scales without making much more than a couple scratches. None of the weapons had enough power behind them to do any serious damage.

"Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third!" Stoick's voice rang across the arena, and I jumped in spite of myself, turning to see my father glaring at me from across the arena. I heard Toothless growl menacingly above me, before I looked up and caught on to what he was doing. He was taking aim at the stone doors that held the dragons in their confinements. I leapt out of the way, knowing full well that the stubborn reptile wasn't going to leave until he accomplished his goal.

"Don't hurt them." I said loudly, knowing Toothless would hear me, and he carefully waited for any Viking to move out of the way before sending a relatively smaller blast of plasma at the stone and chains holding the Zippleback. He rose higher as more weapons flew from the ground.

"This is what you've been doing?" Stoick the Vast was beyond angry now. "All of your training, it was all a lie?!"

"Dad, please!" I tried to reason, trying desperately to remind myself that I was supposed to hate my dad. "I told you I couldn't kill dragons!"

"You didn't tell me you were collaborating with the beasts!" My dad pointed a finger at me, seeming not to hear the explosions as the Terrible Terror and Gronkle were freed from their cages. The Zippleback was wreaking havoc, pushing the crowd of villagers out of the kill ring as the others flew off.

"I'm not-" I was cut off as the tip of a rather blunt spear struck me in the shoulder, and I yelled in pain. I didn't see who threw it, but I knew that there was an equal chance that it had either been on purpose or accident as one of the dragon's knocked it away. Either way, I felt warm blood seep through my tunic as I glanced up to see Toothless roar and rear up to shoot two final blasts while swerving in place to avoid more weapons. He had to hurry- more Vikings were starting to come with bolas.

In the space of a single moment, one of the blasts hit the Deadly Nadder's cage, and immediately, two rows of spikes shot out into the ring, pinning people to the walls and striking others in the armor. The other plasma shot seemed directed at my father, and by some chance, hit the ground beneath his feet instead. Dirt exploded, and the Chief of Berk flew back into the crowd, surrounded by many cries of "Chief!" and "Stop them!" and "They're getting away!".

With a mighty screech, Toothless was gone, though I knew with certainty that it wasn't for the last time, and I was left standing in the ring with a whole lot of angry Vikings. As the dragons flew off, in a different direction than the one that would lead the hunting party to our cove, the Chief of the tribe turned to where I stood, watching the scene with anxious eyes and a horned helmet clutched to my chest. His eyes narrowed.

"Come with me." My dad turned without another word, and I was left to limp along behind him, clutching my bleeding, throbbing shoulder and keeping my eyes down as to not meet the angry stares of the villagers. I felt it was safe to say that this wouldn't be an easy night for me. I would be lucky not to be formally banished.

A thought that was rapidly becoming an actual possibility.

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"I can't even begin to express..." My dad threw his hands up and then clutched his head, looking a moment away from actually pulling out his hair. All my dark feelings towards the man had just sort of...deflated, once we'd gotten back to the hut. Now, all I wanted to do was make things right. Maybe now, when we're alone, I could make him understand...

If he would let me speak for a moment.

"Look, this isn't as bad as it seems-" My father fixed me with a furious look, and I shrunk back in my seat. "Okay...maybe it's a little bad, but if you would just let me explain-"

"Explain _WHAT_?!" He stomped back and forth in front of me. "Explain how you've been sneaking off behind my back- behind _all_ of our backs, to make friends with that devil..."

"Toothless is not a devil!" I cried earnestly. "He's not as bad as you make him out to be, dad! None of them are! They act in defense, that's it!"

"I suppose that's why they attack, then!" He huffed. "That's why they've killed hundreds of us, stolen hundreds of our livestock! Burned this village almost to the ground more times than I can't count!" I winced.

"It's not like that..." I lowered my gaze to the floor.

"Gah!" My dad's face screwed up in anger and disappointment, and that stung more than anything else that had resulted from the day. Including the freshly stitched shoulder wound that still bled into the cloth wrapped tightly around it. I wrung my hands the best I could without pain. "Dad, I'm sorry-"

"I don't know where I went wrong..." Once again, he wasn't listening to me, a hand over his eyes and the other on his hip. "Odin, I tried. Hiccup, I just don't _know_ , I..." He looked over at me, eyes full of anger and unease, and I felt a sick kind of sadness begin to gather in my chest. Was I really _that_ much of a disappointment? He was actually looking at me like I wasn't his son anymore. As if I never had been.

"Dad...I really am sorry." I said quietly, beginning to tinker with the horns on the helmet I still hung on to. "I-"

"I'm sorry too." My father heaved a great sigh and stared into the fire. "Hiccup, you know well what the penalty is for those who don't complete their dragon training." My eyes widened. "Those who don't pass and complete their training...they're..."

"Exiled." I choked out, barely managing a whisper. Banished- cut off from the tribe and thrown out to live...anywhere but here. I was contemplating leaving earlier, contemplating death, even but to actually be _exiled_...

"I'm sorry Hiccup." I squeezed my eyes shut, wishing he would just stop talking. I knew where this was heading. "I tried, and I don't know where I went wrong, what I didn't do. I should've seen it...from the start, you..."

"Dad, I'm sorry!" I said for what seemed like the hundredth time. My voice and eyes were probably desperate now, but this one-sided conversation was taking a rapid downward-spiral.

"We had a deal, Hiccup." My dad's voice was rather emotionless and his eyes were hidden in his hand again- though I didn't expect them to be much better.

"I know, but even that was after I met Toothless, dad..." I struggled to words. "Dad, I can't fight dragons! I can't, but that doesn't mean I can't be useful! Dragon...training might actually be my _thing_. They're really quite docile if you give them a chance! Maybe we could even use this to our advantage-" My dad's head snapped up, then.

"Vikings are warriors, Hiccup!" His eyes were hard. "And warriors are Vikings. Anyone from these isles cannot be one without the other. Warriors are fearless and strong, and they bring honor to their tribe, _especially_ the Hooligan warriors." He shook his head. "So far you've done nothing but wreak havoc and put your lot in with the enemy."

"If you would please just _listen_ -" I tried, for what I knew was probably the last time. The decision was coming to a close.

"If you knew how much you've shamed this family..." He shook his head, more rapidly this time, and his shoulders slumped as if in surrender. "You're not a Viking." His eyes turned to meet mine, then. "You're not my son."

My world stopped.

Meanwhile, Stoick the Vast was heading for the door. "A decision's not yet been made. I need to consult the council, but so far this situation isn't looking well. The damage to the arena _alone_..." From the corner of my eye, I saw him swing the door open, and the night wind made the fire swing this way and that. "Maybe I can convince them that you've gone insane, which may not actually be better, but-" with a great sigh, he stepped out and the door slammed closed.

But for me, the conversation didn't end there.

My body was cold and numb, despite the roaring fire and the mug of steaming willow-tea directly in front of me, giving off whisps of heat. The house was silent, but mind kept replaying my father's words, ripping a new tear in my heart each time.

 _Not_ my father, I corrected myself grimly. Oddly enough, another one-sided conversation came up several times, one that I'd heard often in the years passed. Although, usually...they were said when I needed a bit of encouragement.

 _"You are soon to be the pride and strength of this tribe, Hiccup- a chief! What does a chief feel, son? You must be a_ man _about this! A chief feels no pain. A chief feels no fear. A chief must be above mere weak, personal feelings for the good of the all."_

I knew I would be hearing no more words of encouragement from my no-longer-father. I had been disowned...I was going to be exiled.

After that, it was only a matter of fifteen minutes before I was ready.

Packed in one light knapsack were my blankets, most of my clothes, sandals, my favorite books, knickknacks, journals, notebooks, and my writing and measuring utensils...basically, anything I knew I would want later. In a larger, heftier bag, I packed all of the essentials; my tools, a lot of extra leather and furs, bars of crude soap, some cloth, needles, and sinew, a lot of rope, a collapsible fishing rod I'd made a while back, metal hooks, a couple wooden mugs and bowls, candles, metal candle holders, jars of oil, an empty lantern and the few daggers and knives I owned. I also grabbed a few things like bandages and herbs I knew I would need to treat further injuries and sicknesses. On a whim, I snatched a small sack of gold, silver and jewels from the hut's stash in the pantry and, oddly enough, didn't feel a shred of guilt over it.

The larger tools I would need, I could get later from the armory, and they would fit in the bag, but for my food supplies...

Mind still in a cold daze, I sighed and went to find another satchel.

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Okay, so I'd managed to heft all of this onto my back and wounded shoulder whilst shoving a few more weapons and tools into my bag on the way out- namely, some scrap metal, a bucket, a couple weapon molds, a hammer, a bit of sandstone, and a medium-sized hatchet with a bag of nails. It weighed quite a bit more after I'd added all of it, and I'll admit, I pretty much stripped my room bare...but that didn't matter. Stoick probably wouldn't want to see my possessions and be ever reminded of his shame after I'm gone. The things I took were rather slim and dusty, and would probably not be missed for a long while, if ever.

I felt the weight of my soon-to-be-declared banishment drag on me as I went, but held any tears back as I headed to the smithy. I once again tried to remind myself that I had no ties with the people here, now. I am completely cut off from all of the villagers here who were never really my tribe. I was something that had been forced upon them. A nuisance. A mistake.

A statement made clear in the few minutes I stood by the forge, listening to Stoick rave to Gobber.

"I just don't know what I'm gonna do, Gobber!" The chief's anxiety-filled voice sent a chill crawling up my spine and a sneer twisting my expression.

"For the love of Thor, Stoick!" Gobber sounded rather distressed as well. "Maybe if you'd actually made an attempt to bond with him before he went running to the beasts-"

"What are you saying?!"

"I'm saying that you know more about the trail of blood and armor leading to Helheim's Gate than you do about your own son!" From my position outside the window, I could hear it quite clearly when the blacksmith huffed. "Where have you been, every time his screw-up's caused him to be the bane of the village? Where were you when he needed a little fatherly encouragement? Why, if Valka were here-"

"You think I don't-"

"She would be telling you the exact same thing that I am right now." Gobber rather shouted with an air of finality, an Hiccup sunk in on himself more with the mention if his mother. "And be hitting you over the head with the blunt of her war axe for good measure!"

There was a pause and then Stoick sighed. For a while, there was nothing but the steady hissing of the forge and the rapid beating of my heart, hammering against my chest.

"This is Hiccup we're speaking of. Just about the least-threatening Viking of us all, and the most creative. Have you ever taken a moment to consider that maybe his being different isn't the worst thing? He may not be the finest of warriors, but he's a good lad where it counts." Gobber sighed, and I felt a rush of...something fill my chest. "That boy vies for your attention, Stoick. Maybe it's time you slowed down and listened for a moment."

"And what's left to listen to?" Stoick sounded disgusted. "You seen the boy today! Even if I could convince the council that he's fallen under the spell of that dragon, he'd still be a constant, painful reminder of my biggest mistake! Don't you see that I can't stand to watch my own flesh and blood deteriorate in front of me- failing more every day! Making friends with beasts!"

And the sick feeling was back in my chest, fitting right in alongside sadness and numbness. The feeling of not bing wanted that just about brought me to my knees. The stress of the day was getting to me, and combined with the disownment from my father, it was taking a rapid negative effect.

"Listen to yourself, Stoick." Gobber's voice was a bit softer now. "You don't mean that."

"You say he's the least-threatening of us all." My father continued. "I say that that is the exact reason he is our biggest threat. Berk has no room for the weak."

Their conversation carried on, I'm sure, but I was already gone. That settled it- if Gobber, my mentor, and my dad's closest friend couldn't convince him to let up, then nothing would. I would just have to deal with the aftermath...I had to get out while I still could. While I was still able to do what I wished freely.

Shouldering my luggage with a wince, and bracing myself, I headed out into the forest with no light source but the moon. It was time I left Berk behind.

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\- with Toothless -

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Even after the events of today, seeing my rider in such a state of distress was disconcerting. Especially, taken into account how much _luggage_ he carried with him. The small human looked to be a step away from collapsing under all the extra weight. In the weeks past, all he'd ever brought with him were baskets of fish, the saddle, some tools and animal skins...why would he need so much equipment?

Then again, this was a day like no other. The other dragons had fled, but I had waited, gracefully avoiding any pursuing Vikings, and waited and waited anxiously for Hiccup to return, as I knew he would. Some things never change.

"Hey bud." He dropped the bags at his feet and staggered towards me. Alarmed, I took in his bloody, haggard state and the tears glittering in his eyes. His voice, however, was gentle and friendly as always. "How do you feel about taking a flight?"

I felt my ears perk up and my eyes brighten, and Hiccup gave a few weak chuckles, managing to look sad and happy at the same time, and I longed to understand what had happened. Something had, obviously. Were we leaving for good? Why else would he need all that he'd brought?

I crooned and leaned in, butting my nose against his cold cheek, trying to convey my silent question. 'Are you okay?'

"Everything's fine, bud." He smiled and reached up to scratch behind my ears. "Everything's going to be okay...we're just taking a bit of a vacation. Away from here...maybe it'll do us some good." His face sobered then, and he leaned in until he was clutching himself to my neck. For a second, I was taken aback, for these things were rather something of human culture than dragon, and then slowly, I lowered my head until it rested across the boy's small back. I felt him let out a large sigh, hearing the unsteadiness of it, and he hugged me ever tighter.

For a moment, we just stood there, in our version of an embrace...because I didn't understand it, for human ways were foreign and ridiculous to me, but I understood pain, on the outside and on the inside. My rider was in pain.

"Some things never change." He sighed, echoing my thoughts just moments before, and I crooned, giving him a small lick on the cheek when he pulled back.

After I helped him clumsily attach the new baggage to my saddle, - which weighed, to me, hardly anything at all - he jumped on my back, still making that weird sniffling noise every now and then. In the silent night, I could hear the rapid beating of his heart and ached to soothe him. This much stress couldn't be good for him, if human hatchlings were anything like dragon hatchlings. I know one injury he'd acquired for certain, the one that now stained his tunic, and I know his brute of a family had probably not given him the easiest time after the...escape. Surely, they hadn't been SO harsh on him, as to drive him away. What had caused him such pain? It began to seem an awful lot like he was fleeing from his home.

Perhaps, one day he would tell me.

As I took to the skies, and we caught one last sight of the miserable village, I felt Hiccup lie down across my saddle.

"Berk has no room for the weak." I heard my rider say, and I rumbled in disagreement.

' _I've_ _never met a stronger human._ ' I said, furious with my vocal chords for not having the ability to speak Norse. _'I've never met anyone more intelligent or kind! That petty village is home to cowards and idiots and nothing more now that you're gone_.'

I knew he couldn't understand me, but I felt a few drops of water splash against my hide, rapidly cooling in the wind. My heart ached for him...a rather unusual occurrence in most dragons, to hurt for a human, but then again, I wasn't most dragons. Hiccup wasn't like most humans.

Keeping slightly lower to the ground, where it was warmer than in the clouds, I did all I could to keep warm the boy who I could tell was already fast asleep, going as far as to puff out tiny blasts of plasma so that the cooling flames would wisp around the boy. It felt good to know that he trusted me to keep him while he slept, and even if he didn't, I was relieved that he would be getting rest. However strong his mind and soul, his little body needed all the rest it could get.

I would find a better home for him, better than the one we'd left behind. Somewhere we didn't have to hide. A home that was beautiful...one that could support us both...but where? From my travels before I'd been shot down, I knew a few suitable islands, ones that were inhabited neither by man nor dragon.

With a grim determination in mind, I picked up speed, wanting to land before sunrise. It was going to be a long night.

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\- with Stoick the Vast -

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I cursed as I tripped over a stray root on the way back up to the hut. Just getting back from consulting the council and village elder, it would be correct to say that all I wanted was to go to sleep, wake up, and realize that this was all a nightmare.

Hiccup.

I stopped at the door and sighed. The anger I'd felt earlier was still prominent, but it was beginning to lessen ever so slightly. And after all, I had the right to be angry, to be beyond angry, and I was.

The boy surely couldn't do all that he did and expect not to receive some kind of punishment for it. Even for the quite...off boy that he was, he wasn't stupid. Maybe he really did believe that he was doing right in some twisted way, but then again, maybe the beast really had charmed him into following it. Dragons were known for their hypnotic abilities, were you to gaze into their eyes for that long.

I realized something then, and almost could've kicked myself. All of this could've been avoided. The boy had told me! The minute he shot it down with that wretched flying-bolas contraption he'd invented, he had told me! And I didn't hear anything except my disappointment and shame for him buzzing unpleasantly in my head. If I had only believed him...

This all could have been avoided- not for certain, but it could have. Now we'll never know.

Maybe Gobber was right. Maybe, as Gobber had tried to convince everyone, my wayward son _had_ been judged a bit too harshly...Hiccup was Hiccup, after all, and even if he _was_ a bit slow, always with his head in the clouds, he was no cold-blooded killer. That was something every Viking would agree on. The boy was practically afraid of his own shadow. He wouldn't intentionally put everyone in danger, and I myself had to admit...I had played a considerable part in the whole incident. The moment I'd brought my hammer down...but what else was I to do?! Let him be eaten right before my eyes?! The devil had him under a _spell_! He was bewitched! That was it, it had to be.

Making a disgusted noise at myself, I found the door locked and huffed before reaching for my keys. Only the chief's and elder's hut had locks on the door, and it took a moment for him to fumble the small object into the slot correctly. Woe were the rare days when I was so intoxicated that I had been forced to sleep on the steps due to my inability to handle the keys.

"Useless things." I muttered. "Who would dare steal from a chief anyway?"

Little did I know, I would soon be receiving my answer.

Letting myself in, I dropped my hammer by the door and shrugged off my furry cloak. Stepping into the den, something immediately felt...off. I couldn't put my finger on it, and although we did worship gods, Vikings were not creatures of superstition. I narrowed my eyes and looked about the hut as I went.

The fire was burning, in itself, not unusual. Everything was clean, again, not unusual. The windows were closed, the door was locked, a candle or lamp burned from upstairs in Hiccup's room. There was a pot of willow tea on the table, which I guessed was something Hiccup had made to calm the pain from his wound.

Oh, Hiccup...

"Hiccup!" I called lowly, directing my voice towards his room. If he were sleeping, I felt it best not to wake him. I should be sleeping myself, but-

I sighed for what seemed like the thousandth time that day. I owed him...some kind of apology? Perhaps I had been quite hard on him. It's not like I hadn't heard other parents yelling at their children, shouting obscenities at them, but that was their business. Never before had I raised my voice to my son as such, and Hiccup was not like every other child on Berk.

"Hiccup..." I murmured, climbing the first few stairs up to the second level of our home, fully expecting him to be sitting up drawing, or to be fast asleep under his buckskin covers. "Son, if you're awake, I need to-"

Empty.

That was the only way to describe it-the only way it _was_ , was empty. The bed, desk, bearskin rug and nightstand was still there, but everything else, all of his books and journals, all his little tools and scrolls were all gone. Even the blankets and covers that made up his bedding were gone, as well as the sets of clothing and footwear that had hung on the opposite wall.

And two more things...on top of the worn desk lie a horned helmet and heavy battle axe. The same battle axe that I'd given Hiccup on his first day of dragon training. The same helmet I'd given him earlier this very day.

Blinking, it took me a few moments for it all to sink in. A few moments I might not have had, if my son had actually...

 _'If you knew how much you've shamed this family. You're not a Viking.'_ I heard myself say in a contempt-filled voice, still gazing into the empty room. _'You're not my son.'_

The next thing I knew, I was out on my front porch. "Hiccup?!" I asked loudly, as though he would hear me and come trudging back into my view from the darkness. Somehow, I knew he wouldn't.

" _HICCUP_?!"

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The sun was just beginning to greet the stars in hues of blue when the island I'd been looking for finally came into view. I huffed. So I hadn't made it before sunrise, but so what? At least we were here, and Hiccup had woken and covered himself in thicker furs long ago, so I knew he wouldn't freeze, this had given me enough time to properly survey the island, now surrounded almost completely in fog.

It wasn't _small_ , but it wasn't necessarily large either. It was maybe a little over half the size of the hunk of rock we'd just left behind, and far more attractive in terms of scenery.

White, sandy beaches littered with rocky patches surrounded the better part of the island while tall cliffs made up other parts. Descending slowly from those tall cliffs was a small, green mountain of sorts -though it was far too small to be called a proper mountain- and around that were thick forests with lush grasses. Close to the beaches in several places were caves leading into rocky hills.

After a couple of laps around the island, I landed as gently as I could on one of the mountain ledges and surveyed the area with a quick sweep of my eyes and a quick breath of air. There had been no residing dragons here the last time I had payed a visit, but that had been nearly four years ago.

All _looked_ okay. Not as though any predators of the larger variety had been roaming about, and all I could smell were the faint, welcoming traces of sheep, yak and chicken. Less welcoming were the stronger scents of wild felines that I guessed could be a potential threat to the human who like me, had just added himself to the total population of the island.

My human, I thought a moment before I rose gracefully into the air, taking care not to jolt or make any sudden jerks that would send him flying off my back. I supposed the caves I saw earlier would have to be suitable for now to sleep in. At least now I knew that there were no dragons hiding in the books and crannies of the island rocks. Maybe we could relax for a while.

Contemplating how or if I would wake up Hiccup, I began my descent down to the beach.

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 **AN** : 6,907+ words, but I'm still VERY dissatisfied with this opening chapter. Just so you all know, this is probably the first and last time I'll EVER write in First Person's POV, because I'm not used to it and I'm sure it showed. The second chapter should be a little better (this one was so hard to write).

Did I put a little too much detail into the things Hiccup packed? I think I did, and I usually don't, so that's a little strange, but again, the next chapter should be better. Sorry for any errors.

 **Review** , or I'll feel very dejected and probably not feel like updating.

Uploaded 5.30.15


	2. Chapter 2

**AN** : So...every time I write a new chapter, I think I'm only writing like 200 words, and then they end up being these long-ass 8,100+ word essay's. Yay me! Aren't I awesome lol. And thanks to everyone who reviewed! It means a lot and keeps me writing! It's been a while since I was this excited over a fic. Enjoy.

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Hiccup

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Settling into the island wasn't the worst thing in the world. However, it did take quite a few days for Hiccup to truly be able to sleep with both eyes closed, per se.

At first, it had been kind of nerve wracking, which he guessed could only be expected. This was his first time off Berk, after all, if you didn't count all the times he'd flown to other islands with Toothless. Imagine his surprise when he'd first woken up within the dark and cozy confines of a glittering cave, which somehow managed to be foreboding and beautiful at once.

The cavern was quite large, and had been almost completely dark, with the exception of a few sunbeams that leaked in from openings near the cave ceiling. The cave actually _glittered_ with white, green and blue crystals, darkening to purple in some places. The beautiful glassy objects grew on the walls and hung from the high ceiling in great, semi-sharp stalagmites. They were amazing in the sunlight, and it wasn't that Hiccup was particularly crazy about the shimmery formations, and thank Thor they weren't everywhere, but they were a nice sight all the same.

The mouth of the cave was somewhat small, and overrun in vines and vegetation, but had opened up into what might've been the most dazzling sight ever to have met Hiccup's eyes. One side of his view held a smooth, sandy beach with waves breaking against the rocky patches littered here and there, and the sea rested just beyond. On the other side, to his right and a bit closer than the beach was a vast forest, with thick, towering trees and mossy boulders. Up in the sky, he could see a green and gray mountain stand tall and proud, as though it had been waiting all along for someone to catch it in exactly this kind of light. The air was cool, fresh and clean, smelling only of nature. The sun was warm on his skin, and the only sounds were those of he and Toothless' feet on the sand, the wind blowing through the trees, and waves crashing against the breakers. All of it was so beautiful, so surreal...he kept expecting himself to wake up from some kind of dream. His shoulder, however, and the many burns and nicks he'd acquired from the kill ring still throbbed and burned insistently as ever, reminding him of hard times past.

And hard times yet to come it seems, Hiccup thought to himself. Although, all this scenery ought to make up for it just a little bit...is this place even real? It's not _so_ hot as to be seeing mirage's, surely...

Toothless was looking very pleased with himself.

Sitting there, with his head held high, sporting a proud posture, Hiccup was both disgusted and entirely thankful for the big, black beast.

"I wouldn't have put it past you to have flown all this way just so you could see the look on my face when I woke up." Hiccup accused, and Toothless looked ever more smug. "How did you even find this place?"

Toothless crooned then, and Hiccup could see the trace of helplessness in the dragon's eyes, as though to say he wished he could tell him. He sighed and placed a hand on Toothless' neck before scratching lightly in the same spot. The boy soon had both hands scratching along his neck as Toothless wriggled and twisted, encouraging Hiccup to scratch in all the right places, closing his eyes when his human reached just the _right spot_...

And collapsing bonelessly when those nails hit one specific spot just beyond his jaw.

"I can't believe I'm looking at the dreaded devil spawn right now." Hiccup teased, continuing to scratch and rub even as Toothless lie there purring, wriggling contentedly and generally looking like a pacified kitten rather than a ferocious dragon. "A cute little kitten, maybe, but the unholy offspring of lightning and death?"

He found himself grinning at the utterly adorable dragon and thinking of how totally off and at the same time how completely accurate the description of the Night Fury had been. In the Book of Dragons, the information had been vague, and what little it did contain had said quite simply that the only hope you had when meeting the dragon was to hide and pray it didn't find you.

"I'm right here, bud." Hiccup murmured quietly, and taking care to not jolt his injured shoulder, slowly lowered himself down to sit next to the sleepy dragon. Evidently, he wasn't hiding. "You're not going to tear me to pieces, are you?"

Toothless murmured back in that strange way of his, and Hiccup could just _tell_ he was saying something along the lines of 'Not right now' or something equally as coy. Shaking his head, he scooted closer and found himself pressing up against Toothless' warm side. The cave had almost been warm when he'd woken, due to the heat Toothless' scales constantly gave off. He supposed there were more perks to having plasma waiting in your veins than simply having the ability to explode and incinerate things. It made for the dragon to be a great pillow, especially since the year was just crawling toward mid spring and the air was still cold. Frost often froze over the grass and trees during the night in Berk.

But not in the cave, where Hiccup and Toothless would soon spend hours relaxing and drawing, and just cleaning it out and patching it up, making it livable. The same cave where they would soon weather storms and sit out the strongest of winds together. The cave had soon become less of a (blessed) wild formation and more of a home or sleeping space for the two- because in truth, the whole island itself would become their home. The rough walls would soon be smoothed down with Toothless' strong flames- although the dragon had to practice quite a bit to make sure the walls didn't just explode and cave in on themselves- and the rocky, grassy floor was soon smoothed over nicely as well and littered with dark bits of coal. The stalagmites were knocked down and used for several purposes. Altogether, it was a complete success, in Hiccup's opinion, and Toothless looked fairly satisfied with himself as well.

The rock formations around the cave were also intriguing. Atop the high rocks, Hiccup found several cave entrances through their ceilings, but seldom few held quite as much space as the one they currently inhabited. One cave, about thirty yards into the forest, located in the side of a large rocky hill, Hiccup found to be rather sturdy and roomy. He quickly decided that if he ever had need of a storage space or if he ever did build a forge as he'd thought, that this would be an ideal place to do it.

The island itself packed more than a few surprises...for one, there was more beautiful things than the teen boy had ever expected to come across in his lifetime, including several freshwater streams and even a few natural hot springs. There were also other caves all across the island, on land in the mountains and along the shore that appeared as camouflaged cracks.

There were caverns inside the water itself, on the very bottom of the island's outline, opened by well-rounded entrances that looked rather intimidating to the teen boy. Dragons he could deal with, loved in fact, but sea dragons gave him the chills like nothing else. It was easy to imagine the beasts living in these caves, so he steered clear of them completely. Luckily, most of them were hidden, and located on the opposite end of the island, where he likely wouldn't stumble upon them. Sometimes they were dry enough for Hiccup to think that he could explore them a little, one day...and some of those underwater caves, he found, tended to have rather fragile structures.

"I've never seen layer formations like this." Hiccup mused, leaning forward over a small, rocky hole in the ground. With the light coming from the ocean's entrance- the water only covered the very bottom of the large hole, allowing for decent sunlight- he could see the orange, yellow and brown layers of the cave wall. "I wonder if they have caves like these on Berk. I don't think anyone would know, even if there were. Vikings aren't curious beings by nature...they wouldn't have bothered to check."

Toothless rolled in the grass nearby, enjoying the feeling of soft, cool grass against his scales. His saddle was off for the time being- as Hiccup had wanted to explore on foot for a bit, and Toothless made no objections. If he had to guess, Hiccup thought that having the saddle off for at least a bit while they weren't flying had to feel good. The dragon garbled contentedly and glanced at Hiccup with a sly look that told the boy that he was most likely having some unpleasant thoughts about said Vikings. The Night Fury snorted and went back to lazing around on his back.

"I wonder what's on the inside?" Hiccup asked, more to himself than Toothless. "I think it would rather be smooth than spiky, but there's no way to be sure, is there?" He made a face.

A minuscule sound erupted from the earth underneath Hiccup, and Toothless' ears perked.

"I wish I could _see_. If only there wasn't the possibility of stupid sea-dragons-"

The ebony beast's head lifted completely for the first time in at least five minutes as he heard that sound again, a bit stronger then last time. That same grinding, crumbling sound. Some kind of friction, right underneath the slim boy's knees.

"Maybe we could even use this to our advantage. If-" Before Toothless could bark out a warning, Hiccup found the earth giving away below him and only had time to gasp before tumbling into the cavern below. The human flailed ungracefully and gave a scream of surprise as he dropped into the still water. Needless to say, Toothless was just a moment behind Hiccup, and was peering into the cave with those unsettling green eyes of his. The dragon gave a startled croon and gazed at the other with concern.

"I'm okay!" Hiccup squeaked, grasping a large, smooth boulder for leverage. Shaking, he pulled himself up and gave a frantic survey of the cavern around him. The boy gulped. "So this is what it looks like, ha ha..."

Toothless snorted and knocked some dirt from the sinkhole's rim at his human. Hiccup was scanning the murky pool below him, and timidly kicked a chunk of dirt into the water with a soaked boot.

"No sea dragons." Was all he had time to say before he was being hauled up by the scruff of his vest. Toothless appraised him and gave him a look like he couldn't decide whether to be annoyed or amused before setting off in the direction they came. With an sheepish slump, Hiccup followed, exclaiming in indignation when a tail-fin smacked him lightly over the head.

Other than the caves, there was much to be seen in the forests and plateaus and groves. There was an ever-growing abundance of valuable trees, herbs and vegetables, and even berries if you looked for them. The animals they discovered caused Hiccup to think that maybe humans did reside here, once, but the lack of evidence of any homes or such quickly banished the fear of being found out themselves. If people did live here once, it had been long ago, and the wild animal population had prospered.

"I wonder if these guys'll actually stay, even if I built a fence." Hiccup narrowed his eyes against the sun, moving to stand where Toothless was sunning himself. "Then again, why bother building a fence? It's not like they can _go_ anywhere, and I don't particularly want them to be caged in..." Hiccup smiled softly down at the big reptile. "I know what it feels like to be caged in."

The yaks were grazing peacefully in the grassy grove, kept well manicured by all the animals passing through. Five were in his sight, but from all the flying Toothless and Hiccup had been doing, he knew that there were about six more of them, all across the island. In addition to the great, shaggy creatures, there were about a dozen and a half sheep and two dozen chicken. Of course, those were only the "farm" animals that Hiccup had seen. He'd caught glimpses of mountain cats and other wild animals as well that he hadn't gotten the chance to experience on Berk.

Hiccup was entirely, almost overwhelmingly thankful to the dragon he'd come to see as his best friend. He was beyond amazed that everything had turned out so well, knowing full well that it could have turned out totally different, and that they could've had to search widely for a suitable place to live- although he knew that Toothless had probably not just happened upon the island by mistake. He was almost completely sure that the dragon had been here before, and had sought it out specifically for them to escape to. And Toothless, who had every reason to NOT help Hiccup, had stuck by him so willingly. Everywhere the boy went, if only to walk along the beach, there was Toothless, right beside him.

All of this was nice and well...and don't get him wrong, Hiccup felt truly blessed. However, not everything was easy.

The most prominent predicament that persisted during the days was the fact that Hiccup wasn't a particularly strong or burly boy, and that in itself would likely cause _most_ of his problems while living on his new home. He'll admit it-he was a toothpick. He had been a poor excuse for a Viking. He had _some_ muscle from working in the forge, but not great, bulging muscles and awesome body mass like so many of the other men he'd seen. However, what Hiccup lacked in physical means, he made up for with intelligence, and tried to put it to as much use as possible. Still, the hatchet and sword would be murder on his muscles for at least the first few months, if not longer.

"A Timberjack would come in useful right about now." Hiccup grunted, trying to knock the slim tree over by shoving both hands against the bark. The chopping he'd done should be _helping_ more. He'd cut nearly all the way through. He huffed an decided to rest for a moment. "You ever been friends with one of those, bud?"

Toothless shrugged, and Hiccup winced from the high-pitched screeching his claws made as he sharpened them on a nearby rock. The dragon murmured something and narrowed his eyes at the tree. His tail lashed out, and with a crack, the tree was falling to the ground, opposite of where Hiccup was sitting.

"That's one way to do it." Hiccup panted, still worn from all the chopping he'd just done...and this had only been his second tree! "I never realized how out of shape I am until I actually tried using a weapon...tool...whatever it is, and it's just a hatchet! Vikings use big, heavy axes and those huge saws to cut down trees!"

Before he knew it, Toothless was licking him right up the side of his sweaty face, making his hair stick up. While Hiccup gave the usual 'Eww! Toothless!' the dragon was making himself busy surveying the trees that surrounded them. Setting his sights on one close by, he unsheathed his teeth and clamped them around the trunk, cracking the tree off close to the ground and throwing the object to the side. He made a garbling, complaining-like noise and shot Hiccup a playful look before he continued clearing out the area.

Nearby, Hiccup smiled at his best friend while the dragon effortlessly finished the hardest project of the day. Even as he complained that the dragon's saliva wouldn't wash out, he had a warm feeling in his chest, because he knew that Toothless only did it to make him smile.

Those were the types of evenings that Hiccup loved, because even though he was certainly the smallest and most non-threatening of the Vikings and Toothless was likely the fastest and fiercest of all dragons, they made for more than a compatible pair. He never once felt out of place, and even as they teased and taunted each other in that way of theirs, never once did Hiccup feel that Toothless was looking down on him. The Night Fury didn't seem to see him as useless or disappointing, but simply as a friend. It was probably the first time in his life that he didn't feel like he had to strive to be more than who he was. It was such a relief...he was so at EASE, that he constantly wondered when it would all disappear in a puff of smoke.

Hiccup voiced this worry one night, whilst enjoying a cod dinner on the beach with the stars just beginning to twinkle overhead. He was lounging on the sand, idly twirling the impaled fish over the small fire, and as soon as the words had left his mouth, Toothless had turned to look at the human from where he lie next to him. He gave a soft croon and looked on with wide, imploring eyes, closing them when Hiccup rested a small hand on his warm snout. The human sighed.

"I don't know...it's just that everything's going so great." Hiccup explained. "I know it wouldn't seem like it, but...I've never felt better." He gave a small smile. "If someone had told me three months ago that I'd be exiled to live on an uninhabited island with a Night Fury, I would've just about keeled over with fright."

Toothless gazed at him with contented, gentle eyes that were just a bit mischievous and shifted closer so that Hiccup could reach up and scratch his great, scaly neck. Shivering a bit, he gave a happy purr.

"But the thing is, I'm not scared." Hiccup went on, smiling pleasantly at his friend who now had his eyes closed. He could feel the strong vibrations under his fingertips that he knew came from the workings of awesome vocal chords. "I feel safe."

Toothless gave an answering murmur that made Hiccup smile, because it was exactly as though the dragon had just said 'as you should'. Hiccup sat up then, and scooted closer to the dragon so that he was situated right behind the beast, and Toothless shifted in turn to lie his head across Hiccup's lap. His tail without the mechanical replacement lazily wagged back and forth, the one shiny fin slapping happily against the sand.

Not for the first time, the boy wondered at the fact that this cuddly, purring dragon could be the cause of so much terror and destruction. Sure, he might've carried liquid lightning in his veins, but...really? The _unholy_ offspring of lightning and _death_? He was well aware of the damage that Toothless could cause, but one look in his happy, gentle eyes and he couldn't find it in him to be afraid. Instead, he felt a fierce protectiveness for the dragon, and again cursed himself for not being bigger. He would be useless in a fight.

"I don't understand how they can't see it." The boy continued, smoothing a hand over the scales of Toothless' back where his saddle usually went. "I _was_ scared once, but even when I was..." He shook his head, at a loss for words. "I don't understand how they could kill so mindlessly. The more I think about it, the more _we_ seem like the monsters."

Toothless eyed him and snorted softly, nudging his head against Hiccup's chest in what the human took as a gesture of comfort.

"I've never been more at ease." Hiccup admitted. "Here, it's like there's no pressure to get out and put on a show. No bloodthirsty villagers breathing over my shoulder, waiting for me to make a mistake. No need to be like everyone else." He paused and eventually sighed. "So, that's all I've ever known...and it just feels like one day I'm going to wake up and be right back in my old room."

The fear was creeping up on him, chilling him despite the fire and heat radiating from the scales under his touch. "I've found paradise, but it doesn't seem real, Toothless. That's what scares me."

He sighed when Toothless looked up at him, feeling a bit embarrassed from his confession, but at the same time trusting the beast not to laugh at him. It turned out that he had nothing to worry about; the ebony dragon simply cuddled up to his chest for a moment. However, when he pulled away, he had the strangest serious look of confusion and stubbornness on his reptilian face. He gave a coo that sounded more insistent than anything else, and sat up a little, looking into the boys eyes as though he was trying to get some complicated message across. Toothless leaned up until his eyes were level with his human's and butted Hiccup's cheek softly with his nose.

The dragon let out a noise that was a strange mix between growling and crooning that he'd never heard the dragon make before, and Hiccup jumped. The sounds had sent a chill up his spine.

"What was that?" Hiccup asked, not afraid- of course he wasn't afraid, but curious. Toothless looked at him with that same strange, serious gaze. The dragon repeated himself, softer, and somewhere beyond his voice, Hiccup thought he could hear something else. Something muffled, as though two dragons were growling at once, and he jumped again, looking behind Toothless to make sure no other animal was in the area.

"Did you hear that?!" Hiccup asked, a little nervously this time. But Toothless didn't seem on edge...in fact, he seemed to perk right up, and he smiled that goofy, dragon smile of his and his tail wagged a little faster. Hiccup laughed before he could stop himself and found his person suddenly in close proximity with the dragon's throat as the beast wrapped around him.

"Whatcha doing, bud?" The boy asked, and heard that same sound again. Figuring that since this was the third time now and that the dragon wanted him to REALLY listen, he pressed himself closer until his ear met scaly skin. Just at the end of Toothless' growling, he heard another series of sounds- magnified now that he was so close to him. The vocalizations made him shiver despite himself...they were like nothing he'd heard before, and a bit unsettling to say the least. Previously, he'd mistaken the sounds for another dragon lurking close by, but now that he was here...it was Toothless. It was as though he had TWO voices, one that was growling and one that was making a string of noises from low hums to cooing and hissing, to a weird clicking noise all coming from the back of his throat.

"What is that?" Hiccup asked, scratching Toothless' neck idly. "That's...really strange. It's like you have two voices."

Toothless was nodding, widening his eyes and crooning insistently. He made an odd face then, as though he was concentrating very hard on something. He made similar noises, although this time was quite a bit different. Another string of noises was emitted, and this time the growling from before was much less. The noises were odd...repeating themselves in different arrangements, if you could imagine.

Hiccup's own eyes widened to their full extent, and he couldn't keep himself from gasping. It almost sounded like...

Toothless gave a true snarl then, his whole demeanor changing as he snapped his head up to the skies and wrapped himself more protectively around the small boy. Only when Hiccup was fully snapped out of his thoughts and under a strong black wing did Toothless let out an earth-shaking roar. Abruptly, there was a purple ball of light streaking through the darkening sky, and that was when Hiccup finally noticed the approaching figures. There appeared to be four dragons in all, in varying sizes and shapes, but they were unmistakably heading for the island.

"Toothless, the saddle!" Hiccup hissed anxiously. "Can you handle them on the ground?"

Toothless have him a sideways look that clearly stated 'have some faith in me' and turned back to bare his teeth at the dragons who were getting rather close to the shore. Now, it wasn't that Hiccup hated dragons. That would be ridiculous- he'd been _disowned_ because he couldn't find it in himself to hurt them. Just the same, however, he knew the nature of the beasts, had spent hours whenever he could just observing their habits and reading about them. They weren't impulsive killers, but they weren't necessarily tame or cuddly either. Hiccup's best guess was that hundreds of years of conflict and war between their kind and human kind would set any dragon on edge by sheer instinct when they sensed a human present. It didn't mean that they would attack, but still...how would they react to him? He knew that if he stayed peaceful and compliant, then he could probably make fast friends, _probably_ , but Toothless?

Not bloody likely. There was no way the Night Fury would lie down and play nice, and teenager could only hope that this didn't end in a blood-bath. Hiccup felt Toothless tense up even more and fought the urge to cover his eyes.

The group of dragons landed. Just at the edge of the shore, they stood in the water, and Hiccup could now see that there were five in total, the fifth having been too small to be seen from a distance. With a shock, Hiccup recognized the group of dragons, and shrank a little closer to Toothless, wondering if they'd be mad at him. Wondering if their association of him with Berk and the arena in which they were trapped for months would drive them to want to hurt him. He couldn't say he blamed them...

Toothless growled menacingly, and quickly Hiccup pressed himself closer to the dragon, listening to the odd arrangement of noise coming from his throat. To his shock, he heard several other voices raise to answer him, and the sound again sent chills down his spine. It took all he had not to shake in his boots. It was so... _unnatural_ sounding.

His ever-active mind, however, refused to let him simply shake in discomfort. Instead, he was listening to the quiet, guttural voices rising over the crashing of the waves. Now that he knew, he couldn't just _ignore_ it...gods, it was hypnotic. How could he have not noticed before? The voices were very low in pitch, sometimes overlapping with growls and Hiccup supposed that that was part of the reason why he or probably anyone hadn't took mind of it before. After all, when dragons are raiding your village and your house is burning, it's not high on the list of worries to be listening to how they communicate. Intrigued, he kept his ear pressed to Toothless' neck and listened to the vocal arrangements.

It seemed as though Toothless was arguing with the others. After a long while and a lot of snarling on Toothless' part, the Deadly Nadder took a step forward and shook out her wings. She gave Hiccup an odd look, and took two more small steps forward, her large feet leaving great tracks in the wet sand. Since Toothless hadn't lunged for the kill yet, Hiccup supposed that the Nadder didn't mean to kill him...in fact, she seemed kind of happy.

It gave a low cooing sound that Hiccup had only ever heard Toothless make, and took the tiniest of steps until it was no less than two meters away from the pair. The others hung back, but the Nadder approached with a poise of curiosity, looking at him sideways. Ever so slowly, the dragon came forward until it was a mere three feet away. Hiccup could feel that Toothless was still tense, but took a step forward himself, reassured when Toothless didn't immediately move to stop him. Mindful that this was still a dragon whom was previously caged and tormented by his kind, Hiccup gave the appropriate amount of hesitation before slowly raising a hand.

Still under Toothless' protective wing, the teen tried his very best not to jump when his hand met the warm beak of the Nadder. The Nadder itself looked like it was trying it's best to overcome any instinct telling it to defend itself. Slowly, the beast's eyes closed and it even began to garble gently, the spikes on its tail relaxing until they were smoothly pressed into a long, colored ivory whip.

"Hi." Hiccup breathe, and Toothless' wing retracted back to his body a bit, although he never stopped the intense staring match between the other four dragons and himself. Absently, Hiccup took note of all the grumbling going on between the dragons, and not for the first time, hadn't a clue of what they could be talking about. The Nadder, however, seemed to have gone silent to the conversation and was now purring under his touch. It's scales...his? Her? They were so different from Toothless' own hide; bright and vivid with color even in the dim light. Icy blue blended with yellow in some places, especially the wings. Altogether, the dragon managed to give the impression of a bird much less fierce than the east actually was...all the same, he or she kept cooing under Hiccup's careful touches, even leaning in to nuzzle him a bit.

Under the careful eye of Toothless, who never let more than one dragon get close at once, the other dragons came forward to say hello. The Gronkle was especially calm, and gave no hesitations whatsoever in approaching Hiccup, seeming to almost cuddle him before resting at his feet and dozing off. The Zippleback and Terrible Terror of the group were friendly and excitable, once it had been established that the boy was more than (or less than, depending on how you looked at it) a savage Viking who wanted them all dead. It was the Monstrous Nightmare that sat in the water still, even after the sun had set and the whole lot of them were gathered around the small fire.

Toothless seemed to pay no mind to him, opting instead to make quiet dragon-conversation with the Nadder and occasionally the Zippleback. It was around the time that the other dragons began to doze off that Hiccup slowly stood and began to pad quietly over to where the Nightmare lie in the gentle waves. He didn't need to look or listen to know that Toothless had gotten up to follow him, and reached out beside him to affectionately rub the Night Fury's head and ears. Since Hiccup had taken to going barefoot in his downtime, he walked carelessly through the waves that lapped at his ankles and then calves, not needing to worry about soaking his boots or sandals. He could see that the Nightmare's eyes were closed, but the rhythm of it's breathing told him that it wasn't asleep, but rather restless and very much awake. In fact, if he didn't know better, he'd say the dragon was sulking.

Grumbling lightly, Hiccup's personal bodyguard followed him almost silently, but the Nightmare's eyes opened as soon as he had gotten almost within touching distance. It's great yellow eyes were neither slitted nor dilated, which told the boy that the dragon was equal opportunity for either being docile or aggressive. However, the dragon made no move for him- just stared at him for a long while before glancing away and blowing smoke from it's nostrils. It gave a low guttural sound as Hiccup hesitated.

Then, with a hint of hesitation itself, the dragon glanced back at him and moved it's head a bit closer to where Hiccup stood. It closed it's eyes and lowered it's face a bit, and if the human wasn't imagining things, the Nightmare may have even looked a bit sheepish. It gave a long, dragged out sigh when the boy's soft hand met it's warm, rough snout, and the look it gave him was unmistakably an apology of sorts. It even seemed to smile a bit when Hiccup gestured for the dragon to join the others, but only got half way to the fire before settling down to sleep.

"I wonder how long it took these guys to get here?" Hiccup asked Toothless absently, studying the dragons through the curtain of thick vines that covered the cave's entrance. The pair sat just inside the cave, Hiccup watching the dragons out of curiosity and Toothless most likely keeping a suspicious green eye on them. "They seem exhausted."

The human glanced at his dragon, and then gave a double-take when he saw the beast giving him a look of curiosity and vague affection. He smiled then, remembering that it had taken the dragon the better part of an entire night to get them to this island, flying none-stop. It was no simple feat, and he was suddenly reminded not for the first time of how lucky he was to have such a loyal friend at his side.

"I promise, I'll never take you for granted, Toothless." Hiccup swore, wrapping his slim arms around the sleek Night Fury, who cooed and garbled in answer, nuzzling his chest. He meant it- he had been lucky enough to find one great friend in his life, for which he was grateful beyond belief. For the first time ever, it seemed as though the gods had thought that he was worth something, was meant for something different than the life he had left behind.

"My whole life I've felt like an outcast in my own tribe." Hiccup sighed, trying not to lament on it too much. Instead, he smiled and rubbed Toothless' snout affectionately. "Now, being so far away, I think..." He shook his head. "I think I really was meant to be an outcast...like, the entire time that I was there, this was waiting to happen. Or maybe it just means I'm a little crazy- collaborating with the enemy and all."

Toothless gave a snort and a very dragon-like laugh before tackling Hiccup to the ground, where he lie under his warm, heavy dragon and protested against all the licking and playful growling. When he was done with the show, and Hiccup had been thoroughly lathered in thick dragon saliva, they just lied there, and Toothless gave him a very goofy smile. Hiccup laughed in response and shoved playfully at the dragons head before leaning up to place his forehead against Toothless' neck, where he could feel a pulse beating strong and sure. A pulse like the constant beating of heavy war-drums, but also very much like his own heart, which was lighter than it had ever been in his life.

'I'm glad I left.' Hiccup thought, and it felt a little strange and a bit dangerous to admit it, but it felt right. Whether he'd been exiled or whether he'd made the choice himself to leave, he was fine with it. Happy, even.

"I didn't belong with them...not really." Hiccup thought out loud, sighing as he scooted back until his back was touching the smooth wall of the cave. Toothless sat next to him and watched with concerned eyes, which were lost on the young teen, who was still staring out the curtain of vines. "I mean...I would've never met the criteria for a Viking. I was born to be a chief, but there was no one who knew better than I did that..." He let out a shaky breath. "It was never going to work."

Oh Thor, the boy thought as he felt tears burn behind his eyes, and tuned his eyes to the stony floor.

The physical challenges he'd faced hadn't been the only ones. In the past few weeks, he'd learned a few things about himself...for one thing, he learned that he was a pretty persistent person. With the much appreciated help of Toothless, he'd managed to map out nearly every part of the island and account for almost every animal in just a few short weeks. Also, he had to be at least a little bit brave or a lot insane, because come on, who runs away with the most fierce and feared dragon on earth? Another thing he'd learned was that he was a night person- something he hadn't had the chance to discover back on Berk.

No, the only challenges certainly hadn't been the physical ones. In comparison, his lack of physical strength had seemed only a minor setback. It was the night's he was worried about. The nights that he both looked forward to and dreaded.

The sky was beautiful at night- the stars twinkled above, closer than ever, like millions of diamonds in a summer sun, stark against the inky blackness of the shaded heavens. The moon shined bright and beautiful like a most amazing ivory statue, placed there by the gods, reflecting off of the dark seas. He'd never knew what beauty really was until he'd gone on that first amazing flight with Toothless under a clear evening sky. That was when he discovered that he loved the night.

However, as usual...Hiccup knew he would never get off that easy, that quickly. He paid for every beautiful moment spent under the night sky with anguish and tears and the most realistic nightmares that haunted him even after he's woken. He may have been free of Berk physically, but it seemed as though the universe didn't want him to settle in quite so easily...as if to show him that what had gone so right for him could turn so wrong in a heartbeat. Nightmares of his father's angry gaze left him feeling much more tormented when he'd woken than when the ordeal had actually happened. Then, he'd been absolutely set on his task with determination and a sick numbness, but now, his emotions were beginning to come to surface...moments he's dreaded since he'd fallen asleep on Toothless' saddle that first night. He always knew it was coming.

That didn't make it any easier.

"The other kids used to bully me when I was younger." He remembered telling Toothless one of those first nights, after he'd woken from a dream of nearly drowning. How many times had he been pushed into the ocean or river? By how many people?

"They used to call me really unclever but hurtful names and laugh and push me to the ground...beat me a few times. Left me in the woods alone." He had shrugged and blinked his green eyes hard as the tears came faster than he could wipe them away. "Everyone used to say that it was just a part of growing up. They thought the other kids were just playing and that I would get tough and learn to fend for myself. I never did." He gave a bitter laugh and almost flinched at the look of unequal concern and rage in the dragon's eyes. "I could've died a couple of times, before I learned how to swim. They used to push me in the water, and even when I did know how to keep my head out of the current, they held me down. I was even used for dagger-throwing practice a few times!"

Suddenly he was angry, and wiped away the offending drops of salty liquid falling from his red, puffy eyes. Gods, he'd been ashamed of himself. He might not have been a Viking, but by any standards he was still a weakling.

"My dad was a huge help." He'd said, trying to make himself get mad, even as Toothless crooned in a mix of sympathy and malice at the mention of his father. "I was going to be the chief, and a chief doesn't get lost. A chief feels no fear. A chief feels no...pain." It was about then that he couldn't keep the tears at bay any longer, and they came rushing forth with renewed vigor. Hiccup couldn't decide if he was surprised or not when Toothless leant forward and began lapping the tears from his face in an attempt at comforting him, because while he knew the dragon was intelligent and loyal, he'd also been told his entire life that dragons were heartless and cold. It had been then that he _knew_...the Vikings had been talking about themselves all along.

Now, he was fast approaching the same state he'd been in, and couldn't hate himself more for it. Looking at Toothless, however, gave him a bit of hope. Maybe he wouldn't be this unstable forever...maybe there would come a time when he would be free of his past. When the nightmares stopped coming to drag him back to those dark times on Berk.

He no longer had any doubt that dragons had compassion in their hearts, and they _did_ have hearts. His dragon had shown him more care in the past month and a half then his father had in probably twelve years. Every time Toothless garbled in sympathy and concern for him reassured him a little more. What he wouldn't give to know what he was saying...

He shook himself out of it, swiping an already wet wrist across his eyes before putting on the best grin he could manage. "C'mon bud. Let's go flying."

.

.

 _One Year Later_

.

"Best crafts in the Peaceful Country, huh?" A lean figure in an unusual dark gray cloak asked. Slim, callused hands ran across nicked and scratched wood until they met the surface of an obsidian globe. His own silhouette reflected back at him in the morning light.

"A seer's seeing ball." A middle-aged man commented from behind the makeshift counter. "Made from solid obsidian, mined in the Mazy Multitude Islands." The man shrugged. "We sell and trade merchandise from all over the great, flat world, lad." He gestured to the wall behind him, beyond which was a small forge of sorts. "Big Burglar military scrolls, Meathead weapons, Berkian defense ammunition, even Roman armor."

"Impressive." The figure answered in a decidedly calm voice. "You accept exotic people as well?"

"You're rather dark for the Peaceful Country, don't ya think, lad?" The older man studied him, although the glint in his eyes behind the round spectacles held a certain warmth the younger man had seen in seldom few others.

"I've gotta look the part to trade in the other isles." The figure shrugged, before pulling the hood from over his head. The wind would've eventually done it for him anyway. "Some tribes aren't half as lenient as the ones I've met here. It seems almost..."

"Peaceful?" The other man guessed. "We don't get our title from our ruthless nature, boy. I've seen you around the village a few times earlier in the week. What's your business here?"

"I've got a few things to trade. Been looking for the right place." Finely crafted daggers with sheathes and glinting crystal statuettes were pulled from somewhere inside the cloak and set on the worn wood. "What do you think?"

"You don't seem like the flashy type. What could I have to offer you, son?" The tradesman stroked his beard as he again took in the sight of the boy in front of him. More a boy than anything else. It wasn't until the figure stepped into the wooden floors of his trading center that he heard the clacking.

"Use of the forge would do fine." The young man responded. His face was kept carefully mutual, but his green eyes seemed to hold the gentlest of smiles. A wooden leg came into view, coming to a standstill alongside his one heavy-looking boot. "Some scrap metal, if you have it. I need a new leg."

"A strange request from a most strange traveller." The tradesman smiled, with his mouth and with his eyes. "But I think I'll vouch for you, young man. My name is Gilden, but most people know me as Old Wrinkly."

"Glad to have met you." The young man smiled then, and nodded whilst holding out a hand. "Now, I've ditched my old name as far as the tribes know...so you can call me Halen."

"An odd choice of a name." The older man commented mildly.

"It's still processing." The youngster shrugged, untying his cloak and hanging it on a book nearby. "I'm thinking something along the lines of...Halen Hijack..Hyme. The third. Reminds me of home."

The word _home_ was said with quite a bit of bitterness, but his gentle demeanor held in place, and the tradesman thought it must've been genuine. After all, not all who came to the Peaceful Country wanting to trade were sincere, and he'd learned to tell the difference. He stuck by his decision to allow the lad into his trading post, and had the odd thought that the boy might've been a bigger risk to himself than the village. The traveler was just a _boy_ , for Odin's sake. He had a _peg_ leg.

"It would suit one much stranger than you."

"Thanks. It'll keep me grounded, that much's for sure." A scroll was laid on the wood of a table and spread out with slim but steady boy-hands, revealing plans for a revolving metal contraption that Old Wrinkly eventually recognized as a metal leg. "When can I get started?"

.

.

.

 **AN** : So, how was it? A couple surprises... Tell me what you think. I tried very hard to pack a lot of time into one chapter so I wouldn't have to drag it on in the other chapters. I realize the relationship between Hiccup and Toothless might be a little...fluffy? But it's developing! And I like their relationship as it is. It's not that bad, is it? I trust you can all guess who Halen Hijack Hyme is...not to sure about the name, but I gave a lot of thought to it! Viking names are hard to think of lol. Plus, I was setting up a bit of a plot for future chapters with that name, seeing as...who else do we know with the initials HHHIII? xD

I hope it was satisfactory until...next week? Maybe? Again, thanks to all who reviewed! _I love reviews_! The more detailed the better, don't even worry about length! xP I'd like to hear anything you have to say: flames, suggestions, thoughts, confusions...anyway, until next time!

OMG, I cannot believe I messed up the title, and I cant believe no one mentioned it! Dx Jeez. How can that happen? lol What if that happened if I actually published my own book? Wouldn't put it past myself...sorry for any other errors.

-Updated 6.10.15 3:05am on a summer-camp night xP


	3. Chapter 3

**AN** : This chapter might be a little slow. Tell me if it is. That wasn't too long a wait, was it? Little Snippets from _Riders Of Berk_ will be included in this piece, if you can recognize them. Read on.

.

.

 _Hiccup_

.

"I think I'll just leave it at this." Hiccup huffed, hefting one last crate over to the cave's entrance. The cold, spiky rocks dug painfully into his knees, but he rested for a while, blowing into his hands to keep them warm. The Icy Wastes were harsh this time of year- harsher than usual, even for someone like Hiccup, who was used to difficult conditions. There was a thin layer of frost over almost every surface, and even the ocean was beginning to freeze over.

Toothless murmured something Hiccup shakily understood as, "I don't see why not."

After nearly a year and a half of practicing, Hiccup could recognize and understand a fair amount of conversational dragon-speak with few mistakes, given he could actually _hear_ the words being spoken- that was the complicated part. His ears were sensitive, but still human, and his own very human vocal chords allowed him to speak only a few phrases at this point in time. There were days when the guttural sounds and rumbles became too much for his throat, and he had to stop before he injured himself. He had a theory that his voice would become stronger over time, the more that he spoke.

"After all, I don't look like much, do I?" Hiccup chose to ignore the shrugging his dragon was over exaggerating. He pursed his lips without meaning to. "No one would expect me to be living a more than ordinary life...and this really is the pits."

Toothless grumbled something, nodded with a hum of agreement, and lied down on the stony ground as if it didn't bother him at all. A moment more and he was rolling around, grinding his scales against the dark rocks that made up the entirety of the beach. The rough edges didn't do so much as scratch his glossy hide.

"A small forge, maybe, and a fire pit...a hammock or some sort of sleeping area." Hiccup nodded to himself. "Some knick-knacks, tools and furniture- it's not like I don't have any to spare. It could work. This place could almost be livable."

A harsh wind, so powerful that it made him stagger, caused great sprinkles of slush to come raining down on him from the empty branches. Hiccup once again blew into his hands to keep warm.

Toothless grumbled again, and the low volume combined with the wind and slushing in the trees made it especially hard to hear. "What was that, bud?"

Toothless struggled to make his guttural voice louder, and glanced up at the darkening sky. This time, Hiccup could vaguely make out Toothless' concerns for their flight home. The only two words he caught clearly were, "The storm."

Hiccup raised his own eyes to the sky, and shivered again. Hopefully, they would make it home without getting caught in the rain. Toothless was a fancy flier- he could fly in almost any weather, as could most dragons. However, now that Toothless had a passenger, Hiccup knew he worried, no matter how much he teased the boy's clumsy ways. His clumsiness had gotten better with experience, but they'd still had a few close calls.

"Yeah, this is enough for today, anyway." Grumbled Hiccup, as he slid on and fastened a winter coat long enough to stretch to his knees. He'd been hot earlier, unbelievably, but his lower half was still clad in insulated leggings and boots. He shoved on a worn pair of gloves. Toothless was a dragon, and had no need for such adornments, and Hiccup always found himself warming rather quickly to the point of easy comfort in the first few minutes after they'd taken flight.

Today was different. The air seemed cold enough to freeze right out of the sky, and unusual, dark clouds were quickly overtaking the normally white sky. It was taking far longer than usual for Toothless' warmth to reach Hiccup. Maybe things were different in the Icy Wastes, the coldest part of the known world.

Or, at least, the world known to Vikings and the like. Hiccup had learned a long time ago that it was best to not have anything to do with even the name.

"Woah!" Hiccup exclaimed as they swerved to avoid a sudden bolt of lightning. Thank the gods Toothless could sense the electricity charges in the air- or they probably would've been shot down a long time ago. Having metal replacements for limbs had both it's ups and -often severe- downs. "We good bud?"

"Fine." Hiccup clearly understood the response. The storm was both agitating and exciting the both of them. On one hand, it was completely and totally awesome to soar at full speed through a lightning storm...on the other hand, if they happened to slip and get struck, there wasn't a good likelihood that either of them would make it out unscathed- or _alive_ , for that matter. And another thing...what business did a lightning storm have in the middle of winter, in the Icy Wastes?

It was all beginning to really unsettle Hiccup.

And Toothless too, by the looks of it. Hiccup felt an unusual tension in the beast's muscles that only became evident when he was on-edge.

"Toothless?" Hiccup squinted, trying to see through the sudden onslaught of icy spray in his eyes. What the heck was going on? Was this normal? "Toothless-"

The dragon gave a loud shriek that sent Hiccup's nerves on overdrive. In the split second it took for Toothless to charge a plasma blast, Hiccup could see two lights streaking towards them. One was a lightning bolt- another was an odd, swirling ball that glowed green. Toothless' small but powerful blast hit the swirling green ball, and the lightning bolt struck them.

And although Hiccup had been through worse, it still hurt like Hel to be caught in the grip of electricity. It was as though the hand of Thor himself was squeezing his insides, as though all of his muscles were locking up at once and at the same time being stabbed by millions of tiny needles. His head throbbed uncontrollably, agonizingly. Releasing a cry of pain and anguish, Hiccup pitched forward onto the hard saddle, wet with precipitation, and only had time to hear Toothless' roar before falling unconscious.

.

.

 _Toothless_

.

Hiccup? Toothless' eyes were wide, his breath coming far faster than usual. Oh gods, _Hiccup_.

"Come on, Hiccup!" Toothless murmured, nudging his human's chest with his snout. Feeling the boy's exposed skin made him shudder- it was cold as ice!

How could he have allowed this to happen?

"Hiccup." Toothless whined, and leant down, listening intently and then giving a huge sigh of relief when he heard the reassuring thrumming of the boy's heart, and the swooshing of air through his lungs.

So, he had just been overwhelmed- that was it. The human had been struck by lightning before, but this time had been much worse. He'd never been asleep for this long, and Toothless' internal timekeeper told him that it had been roughly twenty minutes since they'd crashed. The dragon himself had already been awake for maybe five minutes, recovering from the fall. It had not been the lightning that got the best of him- it had been the rapid descent to earth, and the hard collision with the rocky grounds that had knocked him unconscious. He could see that he'd done a fair enough job of protecting his human with his wings, but...why wasn't he waking up?

"...You're okay, bud." Toothless says lowly, the nickname feeling unfamiliar on his tongue. "You just need to wake up, so we can get out of-"

The dragon growled suddenly, first lowly and then loudly as he wrapped himself around the small frame of his friend. A figure was approaching, and Toothless wondered angrily how he could've missed the sound of soft footfalls on the soil, or the scent of magic in the air...

 _Magic_.

Toothless bared his teeth. Just from the oncoming presence of the green ball alone, he could tell immediately that it was magic, and that it had been unnatural. Humans weren't meant to wield magic...they use it too freely, too irresponsibly. They weren't to be trusted- just think of the havoc they could wreak! That's why he struck the glowing ball rather than the lightning to keep it from striking them. The lightning would do some damage, sure, but magic? No way in Hel was he letting any of that touch Hiccup.

"Stay back!" He warned the figure in Dragonese, the language of the dragons. He's taken to speaking even when he didn't mean to- a habit picked up by teaching Hiccup the dragon language. He had to hear it as much as possible, so Toothless spoke frequently, everyday- far more than what was good for him, probably.

He couldn't decide whether or not he was surprised when the figure stopped. He growled again.

"Stay there! You'll be ash before you take another step!" He slunk close to the ground, standing protectively over his best friend- his scales were a lot more damage and magic-resistant than human skin.

"I believe you." The figure answered in a decidedly female human voice and Toothless could only find it in himself to raise an eyebrow. "Strange, you are, Toothless. Even with your human companion, it's highly irregular for a dragon to take to speaking so much. Especially for one as young as yourself."

"You don't fool me, human wench!" Toothless again bared his teeth, and allowed the plasma in his throat to flicker, letting purple light seep through his teeth.

"I mean no harm." The female held up both hands to show that they were empty, but Toothless only snarled more insistently than before. Magic needed no weapons to be wielded.

"Who are you?"

"My name is Magna." The woman answered, and with a slow hand, removed her hood, and then her cloak entirely, tossing it to the ground as though her peasant dress alone would protect her from the winter air. Toothless was surprised to see that the woman was rather...elderly. The Night Fury didn't exactly pride himself in being particularly skilled at identifying human age, but even he could tell that she was old. But she didn't sound old. She sounded strong...calm. Maybe even peaceful.

"I am peaceful, Toothless." Manga replied, and Toothless narrowed his eyes. It understood Dragonese _and_ it could hear his thoughts? This woman could not be trusted.

"Not in the way you think, young one." She cautiously took a few steps forward, much to Toothless' anger. He had begun to hear rustling in the ugly bushes next to them, though he couldn't imagine what animal was insane enough to choose to live here.

"When your as old as I am, you pick up a few things along the way." She smiled. "Like you, I will live many lifetimes more before my time is over."

Just then, a trio of Terrible Terrors, a very small Cauldron, and even a baby Thunderdrum came bounding from the bushes, and curled around her, completely at ease. Toothless blanched- they were young, just hatchlings. So young in fact...she may well have been able to brainwash them. But they didn't seem brainwashed, and dragons had a very keen sense of these things. They just seemed...comfortable.

"Now, Night Fury...I have no ill will towards your friend here." She was less than three meters away now, as Toothless was ready to either fire or pounce at any moment. "I would like to help him, if you'll let me. Maybe he could use a little human help. For the moment."

Toothless glanced at the dragons playing by her feet. The comfort they felt didn't mean she couldn't turn on any of them at any given minute. But Hiccup...was he okay? Would he be okay?

"I'll carry him, if need be."

Toothless had to take into consideration what was best for Hiccup.

"I'm carrying him." Toothless insisted in a not-so-nice tone. He wasn't feeling very nice at the moment. Especially looking at Hiccup...his fair skin was paler than usual, almost blue with the cold and turning from pink to red in places where Toothless hadn't been quick enough to cover him in the fall. Pieces of his hair were even singed off.

So, it was with a heavy heart, and a growl to the younger dragons that Toothless stood up on his hind legs and took his human as gently as he could into his front ones. Now, Toothless didn't necessarily have ARMS, and this wasn't the most comfortable position to walk in, but he would bear it. He just hoped the walk didn't go on for miles.

"My residence is not far." The woman -Magna- says from in front of them. "A mere two minute walk, at most. Do watch for the rose bushes. Those are the plants with thorns and red blossoming flowers."

I know what rose bushes are! Toothless thought with a scowl on his lips, and if he wasn't mistaken, he might've even detected a bit of amusement in the old woman's voice. Nonetheless, he carefully dodged and weaves through the bushes around him, taking care not to let them injure Hiccup further. How on earth did this woman get anything at all to grow in these frozen-over lands? Oh, that's right...magic.

Human magic, Toothless sneered mentally and fought the urge to physically snarl. Dragons had magic of their own, and they were NOT stupid enough to put it to use just any time that they wanted. But if this woman laid one claw on Hiccup with the intentions to harm him...he promised himself that she would not enjoy the results.

"We're here." Magna called back to him softly from where she was entering the mouth of the cave. "Do try not to destroy anything on the way in."

"We'll see." Toothless muttered darkly, and found himself staring determinedly ahead instead of at the many colorful and glinting possessions decorating the walls. When the cave's tunnel opened up a bit more into a larger cavern, Magna gestured to a bed, where Toothless lied Hiccup down as gently as he could. Thor, did it feel good to be back on four legs instead of two.

"There now." Magna murmured. "Isn't that better?"

Toothless had to agree- it certainly WAS better than when Hiccup was lying on the cold, sharp stones outside. In the cavern, there was a roaring fire burning in the opposite wall, and the bed looked adequate enough to be comfortable. Still, there was the matter of Hiccup's trembling and sickly state. At that moment, the dragon wanted nothing more than to strip Hiccup of his cold, wet clothing and wrap his wings around him, as he so often did on the coldest nights.

"Goodness, he's shaking like a leaf!" The old woman exclaimed, and did exactly what Toothless was thinking to do. Gently, with Toothless keeping a close watch and never sitting more than two feet away, the lady peeled Hiccup's clothing from his body until the coverings ceased to be wet. When she was done, all that was left was a thin tunic and his undergarments.

Crooning, Toothless blew a breath of warm air over the teen, hoping it would offer him some body heat. Over and over he did this, never allowing his breath to get too hot, while Magna hung Hiccup's clothes by the fireplace to warm and dry.

"This won't develop into anything serious." The woman commented. "I believe he just needs a bit of sleep and warmth, and a bit of tea."

"This is your fault." Toothless kept himself from growling. It was all he could think about, the green ball of magic. "If I hadn't have seen your wretched magic streaking towards us, the lightning could've been avoided. We would've been safe. Don't try to deny that it was you!"

"It was indeed my magic that you saw. Bad timing on my part, I suppose. I'm sorry."

"That's supposed to make it better?" Toothless narrowed his eyes as he settled in next to the bed that cushioned his friend.

"No, it's not." Magna sighed as she gingerly stepped around Toothless to lie a blanket over Hiccup's shivering frame. Toothless suspected that the careful behavior was more for his comfort than her own. "But I do have a justified reason. You two were meant to come here. The lightning strike proved it more than my own magic could have."

"What are you talking about?"

"Every so often, I receive visitors to my island that are in great need of assistance, see? This week, I received a vision that you two would be flying near, and it's ritual for every visitor to be struck down and to land on this island. The boy is so young...I wasn't sure if his body could take it."

"He's stronger than he looks." Toothless answered, grumbling slightly as he looked over his rider with carefully disguised affection.

"I see that now." Magna appraised them both as she crossed the room to where a slim mug was steaming on the table. She took it in her fragile-looking hands. "The magic was but a warning. I wanted to warn you to land before you were struck. I can see now how well that worked out."

"I could've told you how well it would've turned out." Toothless bared his teeth. "Humans were never meant to wield magic. All they can cause is damage and destruction."

"But what if one used that magic to help others?"

"Unlikely. Do you see what it's already done?" Toothless shook his head, more from exhaustion than anything else. "I tire of speaking to you, sorceress."

"Then allow me to speak and yourself to listen." The old woman chided, still surprisingly calm. "I am an oracle, Toothless. That means that I've been given a great ability to gaze into the present, past or future, and every once and a while, I'm allowed to intervene in the lives of those that I see. This gift was not a welcome one, not at first. It was forced upon me."

Toothless grumbled, an unspoken question.

"I've long forgiven any bad blood between I and my gift-givers. After all, I've saved and helped many people because of it." Before Toothless knew what was happening, a hand was raised just before his snout, and he reared back, letting out a small roar of anger.

"Let me show you." The oracle offered, and it took Toothless a long while to calm his anger enough to settle back down. How dare this witch think she could touch him?!

"Please."

The Night Fury's eyes closed, and he heaved a great breath. Hiccup was still asleep beside him, and if this woman planned to do anything to "help" him, Toothless wanted to know firsthand what she was capable of. Reluctantly, he leant forward and allowed her hand to touch his scales, quickly as to keep himself from having second thoughts. Immediately, he found himself assaulted with images of a village, and nearly recoiled.

"Be calm. They are only memories." Toothless snarled, but held himself in place as the images began to flicker. He realized with a flash of anger that what he was seeing was the pathetic little establishment known as Berk.

"What is this?" Toothless asked, seeing from sky-view a small boy playing alone by the ocean's edge. With a start, he realized it was Hiccup.

"I've been watching you both." Magna's voice seemed to float through his head. "Since Hiccup was a child."

The image wavered, and just as suddenly, Toothless was seeing himself. A small Night Fury, less than a quarter of his current size, jumping from rock to rock in a place far away...somewhere Toothless hadn't seen since his hatchling years. Someplace he hadn't thought about in ages. "Since you were with your family. Visions of each of my charges come on their own maybe three or four times a year, if I don't seek them out."

Toothless shook his head and pulled away from her hand as his mind was assaulted with unwelcome memories of Hiccup's earlier days, when he suffered through in that village. The dragon couldn't imagine what he would do if Hiccup were ever subjected to such torment again. He would probably blast anyone who dared to harm him...which, he guessed, would be rather fatal. Not that he minded.

"You're loyal to your rider." The oracle smiled, and Toothless allowed her to stroke his jaw a few times before pulling away into his position by the bed. "There's nothing you wouldn't do for him. Yours is a bond that becomes more and more rare with each year that passes." Her eyes shifted to the area just behind him. She smiled.

"You're dragon loves you, Hiccup. Whether he ever tells you or not."

"He's a good dragon." Hiccup's voice drifted from behind him, and Toothless perked up, turning until he was face to face with his rider and could nuzzle him with his warm nose. The teenager smiled and reached up until he could rub his dragon's neck comfortingly. "He's my best friend."

.

.

.

 _Hiccup_

.

"Thanks." Hiccup smiled slightly and nodded to the old lady in front of him who held out a mug. It felt warm in his shaky hands, and the aroma was pleasant, if not unfamiliar. It smelled faintly of roses, but a little of other herbs he didn't recognize. "So, I guess you've been talking to Toothless. You speak Dragonese?"

"Dragonese, Norse, Latin." She smiled as Hiccup took his first sip, and then another larger gulp. "A few others."

"Wow." Hiccup raised his eyebrows in surprise. When he was younger, his grandfather on his mother's side used to teach him how to speak Latin, but he died before Hiccup could memorize more than a few phrases. He couldn't imagine learning four or five languages other than Norse.

"More tea?"

Hiccup hadn't realized he'd drank all that filled his mug. "Uh, yeah. Thanks. So, how exactly did we end up here?" He surveyed the room, which held more odd and beautiful items than he expected any one person to own. The cavern was large, and he could see passageways probably leading to other rooms in the opposite wall. "We've been over these seas before. I've never seen any homes anywhere around here."

"Not many people choose to make their homes in the Icy Wastes." She shrugged. "I was placed here, in exchange for my second sight. I live here for most of the year, but every other month I'm allowed to leave and visit another land for a short time."

"I can't fathom staying in one place for so long." Hiccup visibly shuddered, though he tried to hide it. It would drive him mad.

"It comes with it's ups and downs." A few baby dragons pattered into her cave and jumped on the bed, chasing each other around Hiccup. "I'm never alone."

"When you were younger..." Hiccup asked carefully, reaching over to scratch Toothless' ears and side-frills. "Did you ride dragons?"

"When I was allowed." The oracle smiled. "That was long ago...and you've reminded me of something." Her expression became troubled. Hiccup never liked those looks, on anyone.

"What's that?" He asked, halfway through his second mug of tea.

"What do you need help with?" Magna's eyebrows frowned. "Believe it or not, but it's you who has come to _me_ , in your time of need. You would not be here otherwise."

It was Hiccup's turn to frown. By now, he understood that this woman was some sort of sorceress who had brought them into her cave so he could rest somewhere warm. From Toothless' vague grumbles, he gathered that the dragon hadn't taken an immediate liking to her, however after nearly two hours of being in close quarters, the Night Fury had begun to accept that maybe the woman wasn't all bad. The dragon had made it very clear also that he had no high opinion of humans who wielded magic...something about their impulsive nature, which Hiccup didn't exactly object to. He'd heard only horror stories about witches when he was younger.

"I think..." Hiccup shifted uncomfortably. He didn't quite know if he believed in magic or not, but he was still hesitant to tell a stranger about his troubles, especially if they involved Toothless. But...how else would they have gotten here?

He shot Toothless a look, who was already watching him. Toothless blinked his big eyes and crooned lowly, and Hiccup got the silent message. He trusted him.

"I think it might have something to do with my ability to learn Dragonese." Hiccup admitted, scratching behind Toothless' ears when the dragon leaned his head into him. "Toothless and I...well, he's all I have, really. We communicate really well, but our conversations were one-sided...so, when I learned that they had a language, I went crazy trying to learn it. It's just that at the rate I'm learning, it'll take forever for me to actually speak it. It's the speaking I have trouble with."

"It's always the speaking." Was Magna's only reply, her voice laced with sympathy. "Yes, it nearly took out my vocal chords as well, when I was first learning to speak. Took me a good twenty years to finally be able to speak freely to my own dragon."

Hiccup's heart sank. Toothless whimpered and looked up at him with those green eyes of his, trying to comfort him. The teen's expression fell, and he was just about to apologize...or maybe even break down, _something_ , because after over a year of believing he could do this, and then being told that it would take _twenty years_ just to have a full conversation with his best friend? He was down, now more than he'd felt in a long time. But did it really matter? Of course he would keep trying...

"But that was because I didn't have help." Magna went on gently. "Your ability will come much quicker, child. Don't you worry. You've suffered enough, don't you think?" She set a hand on his shoulder, still wrapped in a cloth blanket.

Hiccup sucked in a shaky breath and closed his eyes for a moment. His eyes burned, whether from the lightning earlier or from all the emotion he was suddenly being crushed with. Just when he had calmed most of his nerves, the oracle spoke again.

"You are important, Hiccup." She leveled her bright eyes at him. "You might not think it, or believe it, but you are. Both of you. Now, I know that you may not have had the highest opinion of yourself in the past years, but I'm telling you now...it's you that will make a change one day. You already have."

"Come." She stood on strong legs and headed off into another cavern. Hiccup looked at Toothless.

"This is turning out to be an eventful trip. We were supposed to be back at nightfall. I'm supposed to meet Gilden tomorrow afternoon, and we're still hours away from home."

"Let's get...over with, and then we...home." Was exactly what Hiccup got out of Toothless' next sentence. Which, really was enough.

"Yeah. Let's go, bud."

The cavern they entered was pretty bare in terms of furniture, except for two low tables and a couple of thick rugs. One of the tables held a large flat shell with ashes inside and an array of tools and cloth material right next to it. The other table held something spherical wrapped in colorful cloth, and an assortment of candles and incense. The walls were adorned with herbs of all kinds, tools, pouches of unknown items and crystals hanging from nets and leather strings. Even a few horns and a cluster of multi-colored feathers hung from the ceiling, as well as what looked like sun catchers, though he couldn't imagine how sunlight got in.

Leaning against one of these walls was a flat, black stone about the size of a shield. The rough edges looked sharp and the surface facing them was shiny. Like a dark mirror, Hiccup could see their reflections perfectly, save for the little scratches and nicks in the stone. The whole room was lit with carefully placed torches and a couple of lanterns.

"Are you familiar with magic of any sort, boys?"

"A little." Hiccup answered while the oracle chose a stick of incense and Toothless rumbled something that sounded rude under his breath. "Besides what I experienced today, I guess my old village had an...elder? It always seemed to me like she could do magic."

"Hmm...perhaps. But Vikings are wary of magic. They're often superstitious. It's more likely that she was just wise and revered due to her old age. I know how that is." Magna smiled, lighting the incense by sticking it into the flames of one of the torches. "What I'm about to show you may be a bit nerve-wracking, dear. Or overwhelming. Are you ready for it?"

"I don't know." Hiccup answered honestly. "What is it, exactly?"

"I can't tell you...only you will know, and maybe your dragon. The world you come from is foreign to me." She placed a finger on her temple, and then stuck the burning incense into what must've been a hole in the stone. The glowing tip disappeared, and then something odd happened...the surface of the rock began to get cloudy...smokey. The white smoke came from the place where the incense had been stuck in, and was now making it's way to fill the entire surface of the stone. Was it possible that it was hollow? Magna placed the hand that had been raised to her head on the sharp edge of the stone.

"Let me show you what I first saw when I begun receiving visions of you, Hiccup." Before his eyes, the shiny surface of the rock flashed with a white light and he found himself looking at...himself? The overall quality was a little faded, maybe, a bit smokey in the background, but the colors and image was as clear as day.

"What..." Hiccup's eyes widened. "Oh Thor.."

"I do love children. You were such a thoughtful and kind boy." Magna's eyes crinkled when she smiled. "It set you apart from your peers."

From the light of the rock, a small Viking, looking to be only five or six, sat by a rivers edge. From behind him, a trio of kids approached, but small Hiccup's back was turned towards them as he studied something on the river's bed. So, he couldn't even catch himself when he was pushed into the water by two of the equally young but larger boys Hiccup recognized as Snotlout and Tuffnut. From her seat on a boulder, Ruffnut laughed and kicked dirt in Hiccup's eyes when he resurfaced from the current, lucky not to have been carried away and gasping for air.

The real Hiccup's eyes closed, and from beside him, he could hear Toothless growling.

It's just a memory, Hiccup reminded himself. When he opened his eyes again, he stared at himself, a little older and standing rigidly in front of a wooden slab with knives and daggers stuck all around him. One of said daggers struck the side of his arm, and though it was badly thrown, the real Hiccup watched as blood trailed down the boy's wrist and fingers. Watched as his younger self flinched when another dagger came close to his leg. The images wavered, and then came quicker, flickering to brief instances in which Hiccup was pushed around by bullies, insulted by Astrid, ignored by his dad and alone in his room. More than once he was at the forge, and with each memory he became older though not necessarily bigger, and he began seeing himself with Toothless.

The real Hiccup smiled as stone-image Toothless playfully jumped on stone-image Hiccup on the sands of their new island-home. Boy and dragon wrestled and kicked up sand in their rough-housing, but both of them laughed. Hiccup fell into the waves, but it was nothing like his memories of the stream. Toothless was splashing around right next to him, throwing him up into the air, never in the deepest parts of the shore and always close by. More memories flickered, of homey things like working together to make weapons, interacting with the other dragons, and sitting together in their cave as Hiccup drew or as they practiced speaking to each other.

The teenager sighed. This stone had unsettled him with the very things he tried not to think about...but in the end, Toothless was there. As he had been for nearly all the time they'd known each other.

"Is it too much?" Magna asked softly, as the stone went dark. The smoke still swirled within, and Magna's fingers still rested softly on the edge.

"No." Hiccup answered immediately, and then shook his head. "It's nothing I haven't seen before...do you know who those people are?"

"I know only what I've seen...but that's enough. I know more about you." The oracle tilted her head. "Are you upset about that?"

"Not really..." Hiccup fiddled with the hem of his tunic. "I mean, it's not like you asked for it, right?"

"Thoughtful, as I said. Considerate." She nodded and then paused, seeming to hesitate greatly before speaking her next words. "Dear, I know that you might not like me to being this up...but I've seen your future, and I've seen what would have been if you hadn't have run away from your island. I'd like for you to see a select portion of it."

"What do you mean, what _would_ have been?" Hiccup asked, though he was afraid of the answer.

"Your story is a special one, darling. One that will be told for generations to come. The gods always pack more than a few surprises." She smiled.

"Please just show me now." Hiccup closed his eyes one last time, rubbing his face tiredly. "Before I lose my nerve."

"As you wish." The old woman nodded and again the surface of the seeing-rock lit up. "I'll just jump right into it then, and tell you. There are many ways your fate and the fate of your village could have went." This memory was from that dreadful day in the arena. The day he left his village. Hiccup stood with a stony face as he watched himself getting chased by the hot-tempered Monstrous Nightmare he'd come to know as Hookfang, and then watched Toothless came to his rescue.

"If you're father hadn't have been so stubborn, or if you hadn't have left...if Toothless had stayed in that arena a moment longer," Magna's lips pursed. "Chaos would have ensued."

Hiccup felt like growling himself, when he seen the father who disowned him charging to overtake Toothless. In seconds, the Night Fury was outnumbered and brought to the ground. The teen's heart constricted when he saw his dragon struggling within the confines of a muzzle and metal chains attached to a cart. Toothless was being taken out to sea on a ship...he was drowning.

Thank Odin I didn't choose to stay, Hiccup thought with a heavy feeling of dread, but then felt relieved beyond belief that he had chosen _right_. He never in his life had wanted to see his best friend so helpless...but it wasn't real. In another lifetime, maybe it would have been, but not here. At least there was that.

"But you would have succeeded." Magna went on, thankfully not watching his expressions. The stone blanked and then presented a confusing sight of a new Berk, one with dragons everywhere; crawling on rooftops, flying over the village, herding the livestock. For a second, Hiccup even saw himself with Toothless.

"What is this?" Hiccup asked, his voice heavy with disbelief, his expression one of shock. "This couldn't have been possible."

"It could have been." Magna disagreed, her voice a bit sad. "In an ideal world, you and Toothless would have prevailed, and humans would have made peace with dragons. You would have reached all corners of the seas with your teachings."

In the smoke of the stone, Hiccup saw Toothless and himself, sledding on Toothless' smooth belly down a long, snowy slope in what the teen recognized to be the forests of Berk. Next to him, Astrid rode a Deadly Nadder Hiccup had named Stormfly not too long ago. The blonde girl had a smile on her face, and Hiccup realized that they were racing. Willingly. Together. With dragons. Having fun.

The sight of his childhood crush made his heart flutter in his chest, and he had to look away for a moment. No matter how hard he tried, he'd yet to completely let go of his past. He couldn't _not_ remember how badly he'd been treated by everyone, and the sadness still crept up on him, some nights.

When he looked back, Magna was looking at him with a mix of concern and a bit of confusion in her eyes, though he couldn't imagine what for. In the smoke of the stone, the alternate-Hiccup spoke animatedly with five other teens he'd known as his classmates and dragon-training group. They each had their own respective dragons, which came as another shock- they were dragon riders? He himself stood in front of a large stone with chalk writing on the front, with Toothless right next to him, and he appeared to be...teaching? Was he hosting a debate or something? Lecturing?

Hiccup couldn't decide whether he was sad or disgusted at this could-have-been reality.

"I think I've seen enough, Magna." The boy said in a dazed voice as the memories still flashed. His green eyes were a little unfocused, and maybe even a little misty, as though his mind were somewhere else. He was thinking about Berk. "Um...I think I need some fresh air."

"I'm sorry, Hiccup." The oracle said, seeming sincere. "I hope this revelation didn't ruin your time with me too much. I thought you should know...hoped it would give you a bit of an advantage."

"Well, you never know, I guess." Hiccup smiled half-heartedly, but there was a look of resignation on his face.

I'll never know, he thought quietly. "Knowledge _is_ power, as my father never said. Listen, guys, I'm gonna go look at the clouds real quick. We should be getting home soon."

With that, the teen drudges out of the room, making his way outside the cave. From where they stood, the pair of oracle and dragon could hear the dragon hatchlings follow the boy out into the night, nipping around his feet playfully before dispersing to find their mothers.

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 _Toothless_

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"That poor dear." The oracle next to him sympathized. They had followed after him soon after he'd left the cavern, and were now standing at the very mouth of her cave, watching Hiccup sit by the shore. Toothless imagined that for a human, the rough black rocks that made up every shore in the Icy Wastes didn't feel too good on his skin. Then, he thought that Hiccup must not have cared either way.

"I try to help him forget." Toothless answered, looking down to where his claws scratched at the dark soil. Wondering how it was that he and Hiccup had ended up together, best friends. They were so different. "They were cruel to him. I didn't know exactly how cruel until I seen for myself tonight. He didn't deserve that. He deserved to have a family who loved him, and friends that supported him."

"He deserves a companion like you." Magna smiled, and Toothless found himself lightly leaning into her touch for the first time. "Odd how it could've took the friendship of such a fierce dragon to bring him out of the darkness."

"I never want him to experience that again. That's not how it was supposed to be!" Toothless' eyes were wide, and the dragon could tell that although he tried to hide the fear in them, his efforts were in vain. He worried for his rider and friend. Scars like his didn't just go away on their own. How the humans treated him...even dragons weren't that bad to each other. "It's been two years, oracle, and Hiccup has yet to form any bonds with humans of common age. I fear that he's lonely."

"Oh, Toothless." Magna chided. "Hiccup could never be unsatisfied with the friends that he's ready made. He values you just as much as you do him...and you're forgetting dear, that although he doesn't have human companions of the right age, he still has you. There's another reason you two have gotten along so well...are you and he not the same age?"

"Don't tell him that!" Toothless groaned in a very human-like manner. "I've never told him. He's under the impression that I'm somewhat older than he is. If he finds out, I'll never hear the end of it."

"False superiority is a bad habit, Night Fury."

Toothless growled playfully, and then yelped as he was whacked on the behind and urged towards the door. "Now go and see how you're rider's doing. He's had quite a night, with many unpleasant surprises."

"No thanks to you." Toothless snobbed, then muttered, "Witch."

"Teenager." Toothless growled, but Magna only smiled and headed off into another room, where the shadows were immediately lit with a bright light. The dragon blinked. "Make sure he comes back in soon, or he'll catch a cold. I have some tea for him that will heal his vocal chords quickly and make them stronger, may even add some volume to that gentle voice of his. I also feel that it's best if the both of you stayed the night."

Without answering verbally, Toothless made a noise of noise of affirmation and trotted off to where his best friend sat in the rocky shore. His eyes were green and caught the moonlight in only the way that his could, but they seemed dry. At least he hadn't been crying, then Toothless really would've felt bad. The dragon crooned softly, and his human greeted him with a smile and a stroke to his head.

"Hey bud." Hiccup scooted closer to the Night Fury as he sat down, and blew in his hands to warm them. "It sure is cold out here."

"Nice, though." Toothless replied softly, casting a sideways glance at the human. Deciding that it was best to get it all out now, while they were alone, he just came out with it and hoped that his message would get across. He gave a soft croon. "Hiccup..."

"I'm okay, Toothless." Hiccup's voice was soft. "I'm more numb than anything else, but I guess that's better than the alternative."

Hiccup's boot kicked gingerly at the rocks, digging for the dark sand underneath. "What did you think about all that?"

"I thought it was a little useless, honestly. I'm sure the oracle meant well, but I didn't really want you to see that." Toothless wasn't sure how much of that Hiccup understood, but knew that it was good to keep his answers long. It was important now more than ever for Hiccup to practice. Toothless NEEDED him to understand...he wasn't alone. "I'm just worried about you."

"I know, bud." Hiccup sighed, looking out into the crashing waves, which were all but slushy with the cold. He was surprised it hadn't started snowing yet- it had back home when they'd left.

"I'm going to try not to let it bother me all that much." He closed his eyes. "It's not like it matters anyway. There's nothing anyone can do to change the past."

"What's done is done." Toothless replied gently, then pushed his head against Hiccup's chest, against his heart, trying to offer comfort.

"I don't care." Hiccup said more firmly. "I'd much rather have one great friend than lots of fake ones. Those kids probably only liked me in that other reality because I'm the reason they had dragons..." Hiccup blinked. "Dragons. In the other reality, there would have been Vikings riding dragons, making peace with them. There could've been peace..."

Toothless interjected with a low growl. He lifted his head and butted his nose against Hiccup's forehead.

"What happened to not letting it get to you, Hiccup?" He softened his voice by force and garbled gently. "None of it was your fault. You're way better off since you left that village. They didn't value you."

"I keep telling myself that. It just..creeps up on me, sometimes, you know? Of course you do." Hiccup smiled, though there was still a certain deep sadness to his expression. "Maybe one day I'll believe it."

Toothless sincerely hoped he would. It was the truth, after all. His rider had too much potential and goodness to be held down by so much doubt.

The human shivered as a cold wind whooshed by, and the first snowflakes to touch the island drifted down from the heavens. Something strange was going on in the direction of home...it looked like a great snowstorm had already begun. Now that Toothless thought about it and looked around, it seemed that a snowstorm had begun all around them, except for immediately around the island. Only a few flakes touches the beaches, and above them he could see stars.

"It's gonna be alright." Toothless insisted, and was relieved when Hiccup let out a heavy sigh and leaned closer to him, allowing a large black wing to wrap around him like a warm blanket.

"Yeah." Hiccup agreed, staring out into the ocean with tired eyes that were no longer quite as sad as they were before. "It will be."

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 **AN** : Just over 8,000 words! So, a little downcast, this was, and a little slow...but, I thought it'd be interesting, you know? To have Hiccup see what would have happened if everything had gone different for him in the kill ring. I dunno...hopefully, it wasn't too bad. The next chapter' be a lot less depressing.

Tell me how I did! Also, thank you to all who reviewed, and please tell me first if you expect an answer to your review, otherwise PM me. Suggestion? Thoughts? Grammar errors? Special thanks to Elements99 for giving voice (words?) to you're interest in my stories. xx Makes me feel good.

Review!

Updated: 6.28.15 - 3:45 AM


	4. Chapter 4

The Thunder Rolls c4

AN: So, been a long time?

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Year Three

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 _Hiccup_

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"You've been through so much." Hiccup's soft voice floated through the closed space of his cell.

A strong winter wind was blowing in through the icy bars above, and it chilled him through layers of wet clothing- they'd been soaked through when he'd fallen into the Unforgiving Lake, and the most he'd dared to shed was his heavy cloak. The dark, frosty article of clothing had been set aside on the opposite wall to 'dry' although he knew it wouldn't dry in this air. It would only freeze. "I'm sorry. Someone should have been there for you."

"We were lone travelers." Came the reply that sounded far more calm than he would have been. "My mate and I knew the difficulties and risks before we set out on our own."

All Hiccup could do was stare down at his shaking hands and try not to let the tears fall from his eyes. He stared at the shackles on his ankles and wondered not for the first time how his kind could be so cruel.

"You are not one of them." The elder Nightmare insisted, which surprised him enough to make him jump and look up. "Small one." The beast went on, a little gentler now. "You are not as you believe. In my time I've seen the worst and best of all beings. I've seen the destruction that your race can cause. I would not say lightly that you are different."

The Monstrous Nightmare leant over to place his forehead against Hiccup's own, and the human teen marveled over their immediate connection. The dragon was most assuredly a healer or some kind of wielder of magic, and that thought alone should've sent Hiccup running.

It didn't. In fact, it made Hiccup feel warm and safe- almost like he felt with Toothless, and that was quite a feat, considering he'd only met the Nightmare about thirty minutes ago.

"Not all human's are bad." Hiccup gave an uneven sigh, and grasped either of his arms for some measure of warmth. "I mean..most of them are, but some of them..."

"I imagine you have stories to tell, young one." Bronzewing seemed to smile with his eyes. The muzzle around his head was pulled too tight for his jaw to open more than a few inches, but luckily, dragons rarely needed to open their mouths more than an inch or so to speak.

"I don't know where to begin." Hiccup found himself fiddling his fingers agitatedly, a habit he'd tried to outgrow. For the better part, his efforts had been a success, and it often worked well for his mysterious, dark alias as Halen Hyme. However, he felt no need to pretend whilst in the presence of Bronzewing. Those big, almost milky yellow eyes studied him intently in a way that was not unkind.

"Start with today. At the beginning." Came the rumbling reply, and Hiccup shut his eyes.

.

.

Three Hours Earlier

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.

"Fine craftsmanship." Hiccup noted, turning the small, decorative hatchet over in his hands.

"Excellent attention to detail." Gilden agreed from somewhere behind him. Hiccup glanced over his shoulder, and they shared a look.

"And marvelous effort put into this years beguiling, gentlemen." The hatchet came down on a stray metal block next to the counter and promptly fell into pieces, raining down onto the floorboards.

"Worth a try." Came the sly remark from a second Berserker who'd joined his friend across the counter. Hiccup was dusting off his hands and had yet to look up. "You people get more intuitive every year."

"And you people get less crafty." Hiccup returned lightly, smiling slightly as he began polishing tiny statuettes for something to do.

"I don't believe I seen you around the last time I was here." The second Berserker answered while his friend left the shack, grumbling to himself. "Strange."

"I must've been in the back. I never miss a Berserker visit if I can help it." Hiccup looked up with a smile at the person with whom he was conversing and couldn't help but suck in a long, shocked breath.

"You alright there, friend?" Dagur the Deranged asked, casting a curious look at Hiccup before going back to admiring the selection of swords on the racks. "You look as though you've seen a ghost."

"I-I..." Hiccup stuttered, blinking as he dropped the statuette on the floor. I have, he thought as he quickly averted his face in favor of bending over to pick up the figurine. Hiccup had been eleven years old the last time he'd met this particular Berserker- would the crazy redhead remember him? It had been seven years...

What would he do if Dagur recognized him?

"You know, you look a bit familiar." Oh hell.

"Do I?" Hiccup forced what he hoped was a normal tone and stood up, still not completely looking Dagur in the face. "I don't think I've met you before."

"You kind of remind me of a boy I used to know." Hiccup could see Dagur's big blue eyes narrow in slight suspicion. "'Course, _he_ had two legs. A fishbone of a viking from a little trading island...what was it's name..."

"Well, I certainly don't come from such an island." Hiccup grinned nervously, walking around the counter and thrusting a hand out in front of him. "I come from the Northern Puffin Isles. My name's Halen Hyme."

"Odd name." Dagur commented slowly, but stuck out a large hand to take Hiccup smaller one in a firm grasp that made his bones creak. "I'm Dagur the Deranged, Chief of the Berserker tribe. But I'm sure you knew that already, don't you?"

"Yes, well, word travels fast when everyone's everyone else's friend." Hiccup smiled uncomfortably, but had to trust that his changed appearance would hide him from further detection...he _had_ changed, if only a little.

"Ah, what a joy it is to visit the Peaceful Country." Dagur sucked in a great breath of air, closing his eyes. "The place simply reeks of flowers and harmony. To feel the sun on your face...quite dreary in the homeland, regrettably."

"Heh." Hiccup gave a weak grin, backing into the establishment again, watching as Dagur sighed and faced the skies with his fists on the straps at his hips.

"You can't find sunshine like this in the isles."

"However truthful that may be." Gilden edged by Dagur to get behind the counter. "I'm going to have to ask you respectfully to step aside for the moment, Chieftain. Traffic stops for no one."

"Of course, craftsman. I and my men will just be on our way, then." Dagur gave Hiccup one more look-over and then seemed to debate with himself for a split second. "Say, Halen, are you attending the festival later tonight? If you've not been here long, I hear it's not an experience to miss out on."

"Oh, yeah, the festival." Hiccup chuckled nervously, trying for all his life to choke it down as Dagur moved to the side to allow for more customers to browse. "Uh, no I don't think I'll be able to make it, I have...important business at home."

It sounded like a lie even to his own ears.

"Regrettable. Maybe we'll meet again under more casual circumstance. I have a few pieces myself I think you would be interested in back on the ship." Dagur made a face as though sad, and then clapped his hands together once, violently. "Well! As the man said, traffic stops for no one! Berserkers! Move along!"

"Bye.." Hiccup gave a strangled grin as the Chief Berserker finally moved past him with what he supposed was intended to be few friendly slaps on the shoulder but felt like being hit repeatedly with an iron glove.

"Look out for that one." Gilden murmured as soon as the warriors were out of earshot. "Friendly now, but those sort can turn hostile at the flip of a coin. We'll be lucky if our peace-tainted air will be enough to hold them off until tomorrow morning."

"Let us pray." Hiccup smiled and nodded to the two other workers who were taking over he and Gilden's shift for the time being.

Gilden had pulled him aside earlier and told him that he had something important for him to do later on in the day. It was nearly evening now, and Gilden was leading him towards the docks, on a path the teen hadn't taken many times before. One ridden with tall grasses, rough rocks and dangerously high roots.

"Where are we going, Gilden?" Hiccup asked as they neared the water. Down this way was storage sheds (usually reached by much friendlier paths than the one they currently stood on) extra wood and old rickety boats that needed repairs.

"Somewhere prying eyes won't see us." The old man answered, and looked behind them for good measure. "Under normal conditions, we needn't be so secretive, boy, but given the current events going on in town, I thought it'd be best to take precautions."

"Does it have something to do with that?" Hiccup asked as they made their way to the beginning of the docks. Out on the water, just beginning to darken with the fall of dusk, was a small boat attached to one of the poles of one of the docks by a long rope.

"Smart lad." Gilden winked at him and then gestured to the rope. "Pull that in for me, boy, you're forty years younger."

"Excellent excuse." Hiccup grinned and immediately took hold of the rope, hauling in the small but surprisingly heavy boat. It took a minute or so, but eventually it was ashore, and it would have been an understatement for Hiccup to say that he was taken aback. In the little boat was what looked like a glass box with holes on the top-and it was at least half way full of seawater. Something was moving inside.

"Is- is that a..." Hiccup's eyes were wide, and he gulped before trying again. "A..."

"A rainbow scauldron." Gilden nodded gravely, but there was a little smile on his face. "A newborn."

"But- what is it doing here?!" Hiccup sputtered. "Wrinkly, if word gets out- how did you- why is it here?" He blinked large hazel eyes at the old man, no longer feeling anticipation but instead feeling anxiety, and a bit of fear for both of them. "How? Why?"

"Slow down, boy, you're giving me a headache." Gilden smiled at him and then grasped his arm to pull him back just before a shower of white water and steam erupted from the holes on top of the box. "First of all Halen, I know how risky looting one of these is. Secondly, I'm not looting it- I'm SAVING it. This is one of the rarest breeds known to any of our islands, and were someone less than caring to get their hands on it, say the Berserkers, it would be dead and skinned by the time night had fallen."

"Well, _yes_." Hiccup waved his arms around, trying to get his point across while still looking around in fear, eyeing the bushes and leaves waving in he breeze. Don't get him wrong- he completely wanted to pull the rare dragon closer and examine it, speak to it, take notes on it, but simultaneously wanted to push it back into the water and make a run for it. "But _Gilden_! Why are we standing here in the open with it-"

"I want you to take it."

"...what?" Hiccup choked, looking to Gilden's eyes to see if he was serious.

"Boy, how long have we worked together?" Gilden's smile was knowing and kindly, no part of his demeanor seeming at all menacing or untruthful. "How many long conversations have we had behind our counter? On our walks to the great halls? How many times have I patched up mysterious burns and brands?"

Not knowing what to say, Hiccup could only stare, and silently plead that nothing horrible would come from this conversation. If anyone, even Gilden, had found out about Toothless-

"I know you like dragons, boy."

Oh no.

"I'm almost completely sure you care for them as well. That you handle them."

"Gilden," Hiccup started, shifting uncomfortably, mind in a panic, going through different scenarios of how he could possibly handle this. "It's not what you think-"

"I _know_." Old Wrinkly smiled then, and placed a hand on Hiccup's shoulder. Suddenly, and hitting him width such force was a sense of relief when the old man pulled him just a bit closer in a rough embrace. "It's okay. Dragon's...from the beginning, I knew you were something special, kid. There hasn't been a dragon charmer in...oh, decades upon decades."

Speechless, it was all Hiccup could do to not simultaneously faint in relief and cry in gratitude.

"Thank you." The teen blurted, seeming to take Gilden by surprise, as the man's own blue eyes widened just a fraction.

"For what?" The man smiled, eyes crinkling. "I haven't done anything."

"Thank you for not hating me." Hiccup's words spilled out almost without consent from his brain. It was humiliating, but tears had begun to gather in the corners of his eyes, and he grasped the other man's forearms. "For not thinking I'm some kind of freak- I mean, you don't, do you?"

"Freak..." Gilden's eyes were soft now, and Hiccup let out a shaky sigh when the old man laid a gentle hand on his shoulder, and then on his head. "I don't know where you come from, or what your life was like before you came to our country. But I promise, that whatever you do, you will always find a friend in me. You can trust me, son."

"That sounds like something someone I can't trust would say." Hiccup tried for a joke, and wiped a few stray tears away. It was embarrassing...but what he could say with certainty was that Gilden was the first one to ever show him kindness, and the only one to ever show any interest in him. Back on Berk, with all his inventions and drawings, even his own father hadn't figured it out...

"Dragon's."Gilden seemed to be musing now. "Yes, yes, it's been quite a while since someone like you has come along. You're talented, Halen, that's nothing to be ashamed of. You're unique." His eyes met Hiccup's with all the unshakable truth and grandness of one of his mountains at home. "Let it be your strength."

"I don't think I understand." Hiccup sniffed, pulling himself out of the reverie of sadness he'd fallen into. "You want me to take the scauldron? To...hide it?"

"Do whatever you like with it. I myself have no experience on the matter, and therefore have no advice to offer. However..I know that you know how to handle these kinds of situations delicately. Anyone with eyes and ears could know that." Old Wrinkly's eyes smiled. "I also know that you will do the right thing."

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"There was another man." Hiccup recalled suddenly. "Or...boy. He reminded me of one of the other kids from my home village, but he was nothing like him, except for his hair and eyes." Thinking and scrunching up his face like it was a bit hard for him to recall, he tried to pull a name from his not-so-recent memory. "He was from the Outcast Islands but he helped me when he could've just turned away and saved himself."

Bronzewing blinked his great dragon eyes and blew steam from his nose, warming Hiccup until he was almost at a comfortable body temperature. When he took his next breath, Hiccup smiled at his words. "There have been evil dragons in the past." The elder Nightmare admitted. "I expect it is not so impossible for there to be acceptable humans."

"Acceptable." Hiccup smiled. "High praise, elder."

"If there is any human deserving of praise, it might well turn out to be you, hatchling." The dragon again blew a wave of pure dragon heat towards the shivering boy and Hiccup breathe a sigh of relief. "Still, you have much to learn...much to experience."

Suddenly, the dragon lifted it's head just a bit higher and turned towards the barred window far above their heads, and then to the equally stable cell door.

"A prime example, little one. Stand and back away towards the wall."

"Huh?" Hiccup's eyes widened. That was the absolute last thing he expected to hear from the dragon.

"You have likely seven moments."

Scrambling to get to his feet, struggling to make his limbs move as he wanted them to, Hiccup moved to the far wall.

A few seconds later, there was an ear-shattering roar, and a familiar whistling screech.

Toothless? Hiccup thought in surprise a moment before half of the entire opposite wall exploded in a fiery purple blaze.

"Toothless!" Hiccup cried in surprise and delight. "You found me!"

"You made it no easy task." Hiccup smiled as the familiar rumblings of the dragon-speech reached his sensitive ears. "I'll handle the guards, follow me out, I hear at least fifteen humans in the vicinity."

"Got it." Hiccup quickly pulled a couple of strange pins from the confines of his unruly hair and began picking his way out of the iron shackles. When he was done with his wrists, Toothless gave him a croon of affection and a gentle head-butt before completely destroying the door with a swing of his mighty tail and slipping out into the hall beyond. Almost immediately, the sound of war-cry's and roaring could be heard echoing along the stone walls.

"Quite a friend, Hiccup." Bronzewing approved as the boy made quick work of his own bindings and then set to the dragon's much sturdier confines. Hiccup then replaced the small pins and hastily deducted the how the dragon bindings worked before setting the Nightmare free. "And quite a heart. You have my gratitude."

"You're weakened, Bronzewing! You need to escape through the hole, now!" Hiccup ushered the large Nightmare over to the gaping hole as best as he could. "Before reinforcements come!"

"I'll see you again one day, I hope." Bronzewing blew a final warm breath of air over the entirety of Hiccup's shivering body and then bode farewell before lifting off gracefully into the cold night sky.

Hiccup smiled a little and watched until he was sure that the great dragon wasn't being pursued. Which, the boy admitted, would only be possible for a dragon-rider like himself. Their cell was on the interior edge of a cliff, after all, above the unforgiving waters of Lost Isle. Impressive that the thieves were able to just make it to the mainland, in these raging waters- the moon pushed and pulled the waves with the ferocity of a goddess, and it was a miracle in itself that the dingy ships didn't cave to pieces where they were docked.

Perfect night for flying- not so much for sailing. The sky currents were strong and steady, unlike the ground winds.

"Time to go." Hiccup smiled and made his way quickly out of the cell and into the damaged hallways, all the while slipping on his icy cloak and dropping the stiff hood over his face. Passing several empty cells, and peering through each for good measure, Hiccup soon found himself confronted by one of the men who managed to slip past Toothless' rampage.

"I told them you were a slippery one." The man snarled, baring disgusting teeth with a bit of blood due to a dripping scratch across his forehead. "Soon's I saw yer leg, I knew you were a crafty lad. That ther's no piece of junk, no amateur job. It's the makin' of a great craftsmen."

"Well, you're half-right." Hiccup said as he reached for his staff and then realized that it had been taken from him the moment he'd gotten caught trying to free a Deadly Nadder from it's trap- the whole reason he had been hauled in just a couple short hours prior. Something he hadn't had the chance to tell Bronzewing before Toothless' jailbreak. "Maybe you're not as stupid as you look after all."

"I've cut men's tongues out fer less an insult." The man growled. "Now, you die, dragon-huggin' scum!"

The man gave a mighty war cry as he charged at Hiccup, who in the back of his mind, was reeling. Sword fighting had never _ever_ been his forte, as was the same case with most weapons, and visions of a blood lust-driven Tuffnut and his equally brutish sister charging him similarly with blunt javelins came to mind. This sword however, was _not_ blunted for training purposes, was instead sharp as sin and stained an awful rusty color from what Hiccup assumed was the blood of it's previous victims. Let's not forget now, Hiccup was weaponless, there was that little fact to take into account.

And so it was with a possibly less than dignified yelp and pure luck that Hiccup managed to duck out of the way in time. Instead of chopping his head off, the metal clanged against a stone wall, throwing sparks, and it was all the hours of tree-chopping and tunnel-digging did Hiccup himself manage to land a well-placed blow to the man's stomach, which knocked the wind out of him and downed him long enough for the boy to make a break for it.

Even after the couple years he'd been away from Berk, with the time to practice on his own and build confidence, he he was no better a soldier than he was when he'd left. Still mostly a pacifist, Hiccup spent time that he could've spent sword fighting and javelin-throwing on studying dragon languages and learning about new species and things such as medicines and his own original inventions. He simply didn't have the time or will to do it.

And, honestly speaking, he wasn't sure he had the constitution to do it either. Hacked up flesh and running blood still creeped him out if it wasn't coming from dinner or one of his own wounds.

Where Hiccup ran, he felt ice under his boots- this should've been warning enough for what was to come- and before long, he was slipping into a wall make of crudely smoothed stone.

"Ugh." The last cell of the prisoners quarters was right behind him. He could feel the cold bars against his back.

"There you are!"

Hiccup jumped and then scrambled to get up. but in a flash, the sword was upon him and slashing against the tough leather protecting his chest, finally making a clean cut into his shoulder.

The boy yelled in agony and the horrid man smiled, eyes alight with the intent to kill as he drew his sword back again and aimed for his face.

' _This could be it_.' Hiccup realized, cold and pained as he kicked as best as he could while dodging to the left, hearing the sharp and terrifying clang of metal against metal met his ears. So close, he felt phantom pains on his ear, neck and head. ' _I could die here_.'

Before the savage man could pull back for another strike, however, he gasped and Hiccup opened his eyes to the sound, not realizing he had closed them. Strangely...the man was without his wicked sword.

' _Am I dead?_ ' Hiccup thought and looked down at himself as though to check that he weren't run through. The man in front of him looked just as astounded and blinked before squinting just behind Hiccup with a growl. ' _What the..? Why's he looking behind-'_

The sound of sliding metal made him shudder and suddenly the sword was again in close proximity with his face- this time, with the tip pointed toward the soldier who stood over him.

"..Huh?" Hiccup asked in a shocked and baffled noise as the sword - now revealing itself to be attached to a pale hand and wrist- proceeded to slash a good cut across the mans face, despite his attempts at blocking the flashing blade. Confused for a moment more, Hiccup quickly came to the reasonable conclusion that the person in the cell, directly behind him, so close in fact, that he could feel warm breath against his neck, was not out to kill him, but to wound the soldier in front of him. So, he moved to the side to give he or she more room to work and quickly slipped the metal pins from his hair again. At the same time, the figure in the cell reached both arms through the bars and began attacking the dreadful soldier in earnest, slicing one horn off of his helmet and spraying blood from where he cut deeply into his leg before the man retreated to the other end of the hall.

' _Poor fool._ ' Hiccup thought with both confusion and a strange satisfaction. ' _Why doesn't he run_?' He asked himself just as the door to the cell screeched open and a masculine figure in gray, faded clothing came out slashing and hacking in a wild fury that seemed at the same time...very graceful. Hiccup knew instantly that he could never match those quick, fluid movements no matter how much he trained.

Maybe I'm the fool, he admitted to himself as the soldier quickly caught on to the fact that if he remained, he wouldn't come out of the fight alive, and turned to retreat. What was to stop the strange man from the cell from attacking _him_ now?

"I'll get you for this!" The savage man was yelling as he ran, slipping gracelessly on the ice in his mad dash for the "T" at the end of the hall. Where he hit the wall in his panic to turn, his hands smeared blood on the stone. "The both of you, you'll regret crossing savage! I swear it!"

"Shut up and die!" The man in the gray clothing hissed and threw the sword with such a strong arm that the blade buried itself in the tiny space between two adjoining blocks as if the stone were soft butter. Whether it was a mistake or on accident- it was terrifying and so accurate and forceful that the sword stuck firmly out from the wall, straight as an arrow.

Hiccup could only take one look at the man who had saved him before he gave a short nod, dirty blonde hair swinging in his face before he too was gone, taking a different direction than the wild soldier had taken, footsteps hurrying through the hall into the distance like he knew every turn.

And he was alone. Nothing but the blood streaking the walls and splattering the floors gave any indication of what had just went on. This, and the cold shock that had settled in Hiccup's chest. The boy only gave one glance around him and hurried off to find his dragon, leaving the ugly sword buried in the stones.

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 **AN** : As usual, sorry for the long wait! Enjoy the chapter and tell me what you think! Any ideas? Things should pick up action-wise after this chapter, or possibly the next one. Reviews are what I write for (ehem! I lied, but they are nice). Happy summer!

 _Uploaded: July 10th, 2016_


	5. Chapter 5

**AN** : Hey readers! Long time no upload, ne? Sorry about that, really. :C Hope I haven't lost all my followers, but I wouldn't be surprised if I did.

Anyway, I know this probably isn't the most lengthy chapter, but honestly, I needed a bit of variation from my other stories, which are my priorities, and I decided that getting a start on my other stories might not be such a bad idea. Nothing like a little variety, right?! I even had to go and do a little tease arch today to get this started- had to fact check myself and I even tried to reread my HTTYD books, but for whatever reason could only find two of them. And they were numbers 2 and 4. -.-"

Anyway, here's the long put-off chapter five!

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"This is not happening, this is not happening." Hiccup repeated anxiously as he and Toothless plummeted to the grassy fields below from hundreds of feet in the air. Toothless roared shortly in response as the two struggled and flailed in the cursed binds of the bolas ropes surrounding them.

'The ground isn't getting any further away!' Toothless screamed lowly to his rider as the ground rushed up to meet them. He couldn't very well catch them if his wings and makeshift tail fin weren't free. 'Hiccup!'

"I almost have it..." Hiccup grunted as he stretched and bent his arm around from where it had gotten caught in the ropes. An invention of his own, the second version of his dragon gloves, were acting up, and refused to extend the metal claws. "Dammit! Please, can my inventions come through for me just this once?!"

As though humoring him, the claws finally extended from their confines and allowed him to cut through their bindings, just in time for Toothless to narrowly avoid being shot by a volley of arrows. Hiccup too, quickly regained his balance and flight-legs, and together they dove into the murky fog below.

Hiccup heard yells of anger and war cries from just above them as they took a rather harsh landing on the ledge of one of the lower cliffs. They had been flying peacefully in the open sky, next to a sharp peak of a mountain, and then had been shot down by a well-hidden group of who could only be Berserkers. Hiccup recognized their crudely-made but very effective style of arrows. Plus, he was sure he'd seen a great burly man with a flash of red hair and a horned helmet almost as tall as the peak itself.

"Ugh!" Hiccup landed with a great whoosh of air, as he had the wind knocked out of him for a moment. "I think I knocked my leg out of commission."

'I'm going to knock them out of commission!' Toothless extended his teeth and then bared them at the ledges above, where they could both hear a group of savages making their way down to where they sat. There must have been several upon several mountain paths frequently used by animals large and small. 'Who do they think they are?'

"That's their problem, I don't know if they even think at all." Hiccup groaned and tried to stand up, only to stumble and fall to the ground again. Looking over, he saw that his leg was indeed lodged in between two huge boulders. "Oh, great."

Toothless eyes Hiccup's predicament, before spotting all of the boy's equipment that had fallen to the ground. He then quirked his ears and estimated that the two had only a few moments before they were discovered. His large green eyes inquired silently, asking his rider what they were going to do.

"Hide below, I got this." Hiccup grunted and gave up on getting his leg free, instead opting to gather up his half-maps and small pouch-tools that lay scattered around him. "Just stay out of sight and I'll call you when it's safe."

Toothless only hesitated for a second, before nodding once with another growl and hiding himself in one of the indents of the cliff just a few meters below. There he waited, holding on to the earth of the mountain with his claws and listening to his human friend scramble around above.

Hiccup was quick to pick up most of his more mysterious fallen tools and pull off his dragon gloves. Quickly digging up a hole with a miniature spade and throwing the gloves unceremoniously into the shallow space, he threw the dug-up dirt over them and patted it down, shifting to lie on top of it as many men came around the corner of the natural-trodden path.

"Where is it? Where?! Where'd it go?!"

Hiccup cringed and rubbed some of the damp soil across his face, attempting to hide some of his more revealing features, such as the small expanse of freckles across his cheeks and nose. As more men piled into the small landing, they stepped on Toothless' previously visible tracks.

With a small noise of fright, Hiccup flailed his arms and scattered more dirt under the pretense of being a bloodthirsty Viking.

"Raaah! -cough- Let me at it!" Hiccup kicked and punched the air with his arms. "Foul beast are my yak! Snatched it right out from under me!"

"Eh?" The Viking in the lead looked down at the fish-bone of a boy flopping around on the ground, and then looked at where his odd looking peg-leg was stuck in the rocks. "What's this? Not a Bog Burglar, for sure?"

With a mighty kick, the red-headed teen (though he looked more like a full-grown man) sent one of the boulders flying off the edge of the cliff, and then reached down to pull the boy to his feet.

"I'm no Bog- huh?" Hiccup blinked and looked a little closer at the monster of a teen in front of him. "Uh-Da-"

"'Da' what, boy?" Dagur the Deranged peered back at him from less than a foot away. "Have we met?"

"Uh...uh, no?" Hiccup struggle to make an excuse, cursing himself for blowing his cover. "Maybe? I'm-"

"You do seem a bit familiar." Dagur remarked, a confused squint to his eyes. "Something about the hair? No, the ears? No, couldn't be, can hardly see your ears..."

"If you'll allow me to introduce myself-"

"Or the feathers, perhaps?" The Berserker chief grabbed one green feather intertwined with Hiccup's shaggy hair and tugged on it harshly, causing Hiccup to yelp. "Woden almighty, what red-blooded Viking wears feathers in their hair?"

"Excuse me, I am no Viking." Hiccup corrected, and made an 'old' when he was let down on the ground, surprised as he hadn't even known he was being held up by the armor. "I'm just a humble traveler. My name is Halen Hija-"

"Hmm." Daguerre mused, cutting Hiccup off. "Sounds a lot like another name I knew. The name of a little fish-bone of a boy from one of the southern lands...now what was his name..."

"Look, we've met before!" Hiccup began hurriedly. Inside, he was in a bit of a panic. This conversation was not going in the direction he thought it would. "In the Peaceful Country."

"Truly?" Dagur looked pleasantly surprised. "Well, figures! Your too small to be doing anything other than trading and smithing- that's right!" A lamplight seemed to light up above the high horns of Dagur's helmet. "You were that lad with the old trader I met last year! That's why you seem so familiar! How is the Peaceful Country?"

"...Peaceful?" Hiccup tried for a joke and was met by Dagur's loud and good-natured, if not a bit alarming laugh. The man then dropped him to the dirt floor and looked out into the dense fog below.

"So tell me, Halen Hijack Hyme." The Berserker chief began. "Did you see any falling dragons lately? Could've sworn on the great beard of Thor that we ensnared one in a bolas just a few minutes ago, and it fell towards this direction."

"The boy would know something!" A Berserker from a little further down the path yelled loudly to his leader. "Was screamin' and flailin' about when we arrived, sir! Talking about how it snatched up his yak!"

"It snatched up my shee-" Hiccup feigned a bout of coughing as he realized how close he'd come to making a mistake. "Yes! My yak! The bloody Night Fury swooped down and-"

"Night Fury?" Dagur's demanded, startling Hiccup, and picked up the younger boy by the straps of his leather cloak. "Seriously?! Where? I thought it was just a Changeling of some kind or another!"

"He lies!" Another Berserker shouted. "Or the boy is just stupid! Everyone knows Night Furies only come out during the night!"

"Is that right?" Dagur's again dropped Hiccup, who fell to the dirt. "And who are you to make such claims, Stonehead?" Dagur's turned to the man with a sneer. "This beanpole is one of the finest craftsman in the Icy Wastes! A mind like his wouldn't make a mistake like that! So stop flailing your jaws and go find that Night Fury! Hurry along!"

"But sir, no one-"

"Get that dragon! I want it's skull at the head of my ship when we return home!"

"No one's survived an encounter with a Night Fury!" Another man yelled fearfully. "How could the boy know it was a Night Fury if-"

The man screamed as Dagur's studded club, being previously attached to his belt, shot out and knocked him from the ledge of the path, and sent him flying into the foreboding fog below. All his men watched in horror as one of their own plummeted towards the seas.

"Does that answer any question?" Dagur's demanded, malice in his eyes.

"T-t-that was our guest's navigator, sir!" One of the other men stuttered. "The m-master star-mapper of Fort Sinister! This could cause a war!"

"Well then." Dagur continued hatefully. "Now you have a Night Fury AND a star navigator to locate, if the rocks below haven't impaled him beyond all recognition. Now go!"

Frightened, the group of well-seasoned soldiers fled the area, leaving only Dagur, and his second-in-command, a man who Hiccup knew only as 'Righthand'. Hiccup blinked up at the burly Viking and dusted himself off. Well, he supposed they didn't call him 'Deranged' for nothing. In most Viking tribes, and in the Berserker tribe especially, the chief was followed without question, and those who didn't followed were quickly silenced. One way or another, it seemed.

"Sorry about that." Dagur apologized, immediately back to his happy-go-lucky demeanor. "Gotta give them a little nudge every once in a while. Not the brightest lot in the Isles."

"Right, hahaha..." Hiccup tried to laugh it off. "Silly underlings, am I right?"

"Exactly! Who do they think they are?" Dagur rambled on for another minute, but Hiccup was suddenly reminded of Toothless, hidden below, and the boy wondered how he was faring. He must be so on edge right now- Toothless didn't seem to like the thought of Hiccup being around other humans, period. But this human? Who was throwing his own comrades off cliffs?

Hiccup gulped.

"Anyway, there's something rather ominous brewing up in the Sea Known As Woden's Bathtub lately." Dagur commented. "Something's stirring beneath those frozen waves, and it's not the usual Doomfang or any their sea dragon."

"Hm?" Hiccup asked, momentarily distracted. "What's that got to do with anything?"

"That's what I said!" Dagur exclaimed. "But turns out, the other little countries besides dear old Berserk are having a lot of trouble with safe sea passage lately. There's a rumor floating around about a group of active dragon hunters, who've already conquered some small ises west of the Visithug lands and quickly approaching northeast towards Outcast Island."

"Dragon hunters?" Hiccup's eyes narrowed. "You mean-"

"Pirates!" Dagur confirmed with a quick nod of his head. "Which wouldn't normally be a problem, because, let's face it, we vikings excel at looting and pillaging. We also trap dragons ourselves, most of the time, but the thing with these guys is that they're starting to invade other lands and conquer them as well. The eastern tribe of Visithugs have begun to panic. Not to mention the fact that the dragon raids from somewhere in Woden's Bathtub are becoming more and more frequent, and their winter rations are said to be dwindling."

"These dragon-hunters." Hiccup butted in after a moment. He had a sick and cold chill creeping up his spine. "Do they have a leader?"

"Hm?" Dagur looked surprised and then thought a moment. "Well, of course. A huge monster of a man, if I remember correctly, from his description. A bit of a loon, but what with the way he's been taking forts and conquering villages..."

"What is his name?" Hiccup demanded suddenly, straightening and forgetting for a moment that he should probably be more careful around Dagur.

"The dragon-hunter? Well, now that you mention it...it was something stupid...really stupid. Now what was it?" Dagur scratched his head underneath his helmet with a confused frown to his red brows. "Hm..."

.

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"Dago Blowfish..." The fisherman said, then shook his head, scratching his head as the name evaded him. "Dargo Bloodyfoot...no..."

"Drago Bludvist?" A huge, hulking man known as the village chief asked suddenly. All his non-worries about the odd claims of the dragon hunters coming to an end. Now, he felt a deep foreboding in his gut. He left the confused fisherman and immediately headed off toward the upper village to call a meeting.

But first, he had an old friend to see.

"Gobber!" Stoick the Vast came barging in through the well-accommodating door of the blacksmith's shop. "A moment."

"Aye, chief!" Gobber gave a short salute as his friend walked back out of the shop and up the hill. "Oi, Snotlout, you great lump! Stop bending meh swords and start sharpening! I swear to Thor, for all I've been tryin' none of you boys v'got a lick of talent at smithing!"

The hulking man left his shop with a few choice swears and a shudder of dread at the thoughts of what he'd find when he came back. Snotlout was notorious for somehow managing to ripple and bend the swords he mended so much that they looked more like lightning bolts afterwards; Tuffnut lacked the basic Viking knowledge needed for just about everything, and Fishlegs's aim was deplorable, resulting in too many unneeded accidents.

Alas, since the disappearance of his previous apprentice...things had not been looking well. Not for the weapons, which no one but Gobber could truly mend and sharpen to satisfaction, and not for Gobber himself, as he never realized how much grunt work was actually put into his specialty until his aloof but hardworking student was suddenly gone.

Sighing, Gobber wondered what it would be like this time to enter the Chief's quarters. Last time he'd been in the man's house, several months before, it reeked of alcohol, moldy leftovers and dirty clothing. With no one around to nag him about it, much less clean up after him, the Chief's home had fallen into serious disrepair. If he had to guess, Gobber would say that his Chief and oldest friend only cleaned once every couple of months, if that.

Which, in itself, was sad. Vikings, while savage, impulsive and rather crass, we're not normally creatures of filth. Most of everyone the swordsmith knew bathed at least three times out of the week, and oftentimes, even the burliest and roughest Viking around could be seen hanging up his delicates on the clothes lines connecting the many houses in Berk. That is, if the dragons hadn't burned down the lines or the houses during their raids.

"It's getting worse, Gobber." The chief of the Hooligan tribe paced back and forth across his (surprisingly) clean kitchen floor. That shieldmaiden Thea who had taken a subtle liking to the chief in the last year or so must have been poking around again.

"You mean the raids?" Gobber asked for verification. "Or do you mean the stories the other villages are telling?"

"Both, but most importantly, these stories as you say...from the Visithugs, the Outcasts and even as far east as the Bog Burglars." Stoick sat down heavily at the rough wooden table. "He's back, Gobber. A fisherman who'd come back from the sea today may have just confirmed it."

"You know, all that sea air can get to one's head..." Gobber tried to lighten the mood a bit, not really believing the direction this conversation was headed. "Not to meant ion the sea sickness, maybe the poor lad didn't know what he was talking about-"

"It's him." Stoick insisted hotly. "There's no if, but or how about it. That madman is back to finish what he promised so many years ago."

"Stoick, controlling a few dragons is one thing." Gobber shrugged his wide shoulders. "Sure, it'll impress the kids and the lack-wits, but any decent Viking knows that if you keep a dragon in captivity long enough, or if you raise it from the egg, it's bound to obey. The horrid creatures just don't have the intelligence humans do, they'll follow anything with meat on a hook."

"Look, no one saw what I did that day!" The Hooligan chief slammed a fist down on his counter top as he searched for a semi-clean jug to pour himself some warm mead. "No one alive, that is. We scoffed at that fiend when he told us to bow to him, and he brought the roof down on us in a fiery blaze. Dragons with armor...dragons i's ne'er seen before."

"If it's all the same to you, how about we get busy restocking the supplies tomorrow? Repairing our homes? Sharpening our weapons and reinforcing our defenses." Gobber stepped forward to lie a hand on his friend's tense shoulder. "It'll give the people something to do, and maybe those kids will actually come in handy out at sea. What we lack in meat we'll make up for in fish and eel."

"If even you won't see the severity in this, what do I tell the council?" Stoick sighed angrily and sat down at the old, jagged table in the middle of the room, causing the whole house to clatter.

"I'm not saying I don't believe you." The blacksmith comforted. "Just that it's highly unlikely that this Dargo is still going strong. He may have gotten old. He may not make it this far...but in any case, it'll do us some good to prepare, yeah? Our village is strong, Stoick...our allies are strong. We'll be fine, my friend. Everything will work out for the best."

Stoick stayed silent for a while after that, staring across the small living space into his empty fireplace. He wondered often how Gobber could still see so much good in the world. How he could see the bright side of things, and more often than not, make any situation better or easier by humor or positive thinking.

Stoick used to be able to do that as well...and then he'd lost his cherished wife, Valka, over fifteen years ago to the very species of beast that plagued his village almost daily. It was part of the reason he hated dragons so much...if he hadn't hated them with every drop of his blood before they had taken his beloved, then he most certainly had afterward. They had already destroyed his village more times than he could count, and then they had gone and killed, probably devoured or burned the love of his life to death.

There lied yet another reason he cherished his friend Gobber just as dearly in the present time. The blonde and energetic Viking's ability to see the silver-linings in everything was something to be admired. After Valka's death, he wasn't so optimistic as he thought he could remain for his boy. He didn't think his heart could break anymore than it did that fateful night; didn't think he could ever feel any worse beyond what he had when he'd lost his wife.

Then, as always, it seemed that fate had plans other than what he'd expected. And he'd lost his son as well.

His beloved son...the sentiment was true; you never truly know what you have until it's gone. He'd always told himself to push his son, to make him strong, powerful and brave enough to fend for himself, because the world was cruel. The world took everything from you, took your balance and stability and then pushed you forward, and then backward like the lurching of a great boat on a stormy sea. The best you could do was hang on, grip the rails and ropes for all your worth and hope for breaks between the storms.

But he'd pushed Hiccup too hard. Or maybe, not hard enough. Maybe the problem had been that Stoick wasn't there to help ease his boy into the vastness of life's trials. Instead of directing and teaching through Hiccup's growth as a Viking, he'd just let him wander and guess at the right answers and actions...and if Stoick was being completely honest, there was a small part of him deep down inside that confessed one great shame. That after the death of his beloved wife, he hadn't wanted to care about anyone or anything as much as he had about Valka. It had almost destroyed him when he'd let her slip through his fingers, into the flames of evil.

But, of course, he'd been wrong on many accounts. He ended up feeling even worse than he did that night when Valka was taken away...his heart _had_ been able to break more than it had that night. And he did end up caring about someone as much as he did his wife- possibly more. The worse part about all of it was that he hadn't let his son slip through his fingers, into the fires of hell. He'd pushed him there with his own hands and hateful words.

Sure, the others could have looked out for him more, the other kids could have been nicer, for then, the boy would have been less inclined to run to demons for amusement...it was one thing for Vikings to learn and develop throughout the years, to grown a strong backbone. But what Hiccup had been through wasn't life lessons and growth. It had been isolation, and abandonment by his father.

There was no excuse.

Stoick's small, fragile son was innocent. Over the years since his disappearance, the chief had done some major thinking, something he didn't like to do often. It became more and more clear that the boy's madness was caused by his continuous torment in the village of Berk. It was no one's fault but Stoick's.

It also became evident that for all his trying, Stoick just couldn't avoid loving his one and only child. When he looked at Hiccup...or, when he used to look at Hiccup, he was reminded of happier times, with his wife. He was reminded of what could have been, and it hurt. When Hiccup had grown up, Stoick had looked at him and seen a weak future chief. A problem that needed to be fixed, an heir that needed bulking up.

What he should have been seeing was his son, for what he was...and Hiccup had always been a sweet, earnest child. Potting rare flowers and plants around the house and drawing in notebooks, always excited to show his daddy a new drawing or theory of his. Always eager to help, but not quite having the strength for it, being of a slimmer build, just like his mother. Stoick wondered when that bright excitement had dimmed from Hiccup...was it after the start of merciless bullying? Or was it when Stoick had begun to tell him to leave the important jobs for better Vikings?

So many questions unanswered...

Stoick had made the greatest mistake of his life in a fit of rage. Not a day went by that he didn't regret it. Not a day passed that he didn't beg the gods for a second chance. It was not the way of a chief to beg anyone for anything; a chief dealt with mistakes and accepted them. But he couldn't accept this. He would have done anything to have his son back.

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 **AN** : Had to stop it there! Absolutely had to. It seemed to drag on forever, but only ended up being just over 4,000 words, I'm so disgusted with myself lol. Usually the bare minimum of my chapters are at least 5,000-6,000 words. I had trouble writing the last part of this, and I still might rewrite some of it, but I would have been too ashamed to put up a tiny chapter, so I rambled and brain-wracked until this came out. It might not have been that good, sorry- tell me if you think I should rewrite some of the last part, kay?

I've also been struggling with Hiccup's alias. Halen Hijack Hyme...I wanted to make it sound like a mockery of Hiccup's real name: Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III. It seemed cool to me when I first wrote it but now I kind of cringe. Thinking about changing it, while still fitting the HHHIII theme.

I've been trying to get inspiration back. :) Anyway, Happy Summer!

 _Updated: July 31st 2017, 3:50 PM_


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